


Wicked Games

by petty_labelle



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Smut, Horde Lord Catra (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Catra (She-Ra), Light Angst, Mating Bites, Pining, Post-Season/Series 04, no beta we die like meh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:54:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 81,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27967145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petty_labelle/pseuds/petty_labelle
Summary: “If you’re not here for a treaty and you’re not commanding the attack, what do you want, Adora?”“You don’t want to talk about land?” Adora asks lightly. At Catra’s narrowed eyes, she continues. “Fine. I guess we can just catch up with each other then.”Catra’s mind is screaming 'what the actual fuck' but she pretends to wait patiently.“I’m going to get married,” is what somehow leaves Adora’s mouth. Like she’s talking about the weather or something and not shifting everything in Catra’s brain.orThe war finally ends, not with one final dramatic stand but with Hordak crushed in the foundry like a coward. So if everyone could just stop lecturing about friendship and forgiveness and stay out of the Fright Zone, that would be cool, ok? But a year later, in saunters that blonde idiot, dragging Catra out of her peaceful depression and into a bunch of princess nonsense. She-Ra is gone. Etheria has a chance for peace. But Adora’s got a new secret mission. Would be nice if she’d bother letting Catra in on what it is though since, you know, Catra’s kinda the key to it all…
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Catra & Entrapta & Scorpia (She-Ra), Catra & Lonnie (She-Ra)
Comments: 523
Kudos: 823





	1. Strategy Versus Revenge

**Author's Note:**

> Aka post-Season 4 canon divergent. Hordak dies, Prime never comes, and Adora comes up with a rather interesting loophole to stop the Princess Alliance from punishing Catra for her actions. Shenanigans ensue.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Seriously. This is my first time ever posting a fic but it's 2020 so let's do all the shit that scares us, I guess. I was mostly working with the hypothesis that yes, Catra/Adora and all their pals are war heroes and everything and also they're still 20 year olds who are afraid to kiss each other. I loved Season 5 but imagine the pining that would have happened if Catra and Adora were forced to be in the same space the whole time and there was no intergalactic threat hanging over everyone's heads. 
> 
> First half of this is the prologue, which is kinda dry. You can skip down to Lonnie speaking and basically not miss a thing. Really, this is all an excuse for me to write Catra and Lonnie bickering like siblings.

### Prologue: “No Grand Declarations”

In the end, the decades-long war came to a close not with a final dramatic stand as Catra had come to envision, but rather with Hordak crushed in the foundry like a coward. She’d like to imagine that the moments that immediately followed were inconsequential to the Horde’s stalemate – Double Trouble’s final performance trying to get inside her head, that Sparkly asshole acting like she was doing Catra a _favor_ by sparing her, and then the Queen attacking the Black Garnet, a last-ditch effort to stop the Heart of Etheria before it destroyed them all.

The Horde backing off after she teleported out was merely a coincidence, per Catra. There was no Hordak, with his stupid plan to impress Prime. There was no Prime, no great savior to destroy the rebellion. There was no She-Ra, Adora having shattered the sword to stop the Heart, according to Catra’s spies. Catra was Horde Commander now. What was even the point of fighting? She wanted She-Ra gone and gone she was. A win is a win is a win, regardless to how you get it.

So Catra pulled most of the troops back to the Fright Zone. If the Rebellion wanted to read anything into that, they could. She didn’t care. Horde forces were spread too thin already, occupying lands that held little interest for her. Better to keep them in villages close to home that they could most easily protect, that they could use for resources. Most of those villages didn’t seem to mind too much anyway – after the war, the Horde helped them rebuild and they were allowed to go about their normal business. They didn’t make any grand declarations of loyalty to the Horde Commander but they clearly knew which side their bread was buttered on.

In fact, there were really no grand declarations of any kind, which Catra imagined must have pissed the princesses off royally, pun intended. If Queen Sparkles was looking for the Horde to formally surrender then she was welcome to turn even more purple than usual holding her breath. When the Rebellion took back Salineas, there were reports by how shocked they were that Horde troops merely shrugged and walked away. No white flags. No messages about treaties. No negotiations. Catra often imagined that the princesses must sit in their castles just waiting and wringing their hands about when the _dastardly_ Horde would sneak attack them all.

But it had been a year since Hordak’s attempt on Catra’s life and even the most die-hard Force Captains had stopped asking Catra about attack orders months ago. It wasn’t really a shock when she learned that the troops stationed in villages had begun to mingle with the townsfolk, were becoming more of the tapestry of provincial life. Those who remained assigned to the Fright Zone had taken to helping the place run, govern their lands, shore up defenses. The pace was a lot slower, less in survival mode. It wasn’t a transition that worked for everyone and Catra had personally told more than a few dissenters that they were welcome to get the fuck out if they had a problem. 

Catra wouldn’t say she was _grateful_ that Lonnie and Kyle and Rogelio had stayed but she was...something. Less than annoyed? More than just not-annoyed? Even though Kyle seemed to destroy something generally every other week. But he was terrified of literally everything so it was fun to have him do tasks like deliver the bad news when a town’s absurd request needed to be denied. Rogelio kept everyone safe and sane after he took it upon himself to start seeing to defense, troop assignments, and general Horde personnel welfare. Lonnie was shockingly good at logistics, being able to understand a mammoth amount of info coming in from all over their territories, distill it down to basics, and translate it so that Catra could make key decisions; she kept the small shit off of the Commander’s desk and kept everyone else in line. The woman was always scary. How had peace made her even fucking scarier? 

Ok, maybe “peace” wasn’t entirely accurate. Peace-adjacent maybe.

Every couple months, Bright Moon sent a message about meeting. Sometimes it was a courier or a conveniently dropped hint to a spy. Lonnie passed them along to Catra but never commented when the Commander dismissively waved them away.

“Oh, Bright Moon would _deign_ to offer us peace after we so graciously stopped kicking their glittery asses all across this planet? How kind.”

“If this is a lead-up to a monologue, can I be excused please? Girl, I got stuff to do.” Yeah, Lonnie was still no fun at all. Nothing was apparently going to change that.

“Fine.” The Commander had stuff to do as well and Lonnie’s lack of reaction always made her boring to play off of anyway. She was far too reasonable. If Scorpia – _nope_ , best to shut that shit down right as it popped up again.

This time though, Lonnie lingers, Catra realizes. She arches an eyebrow in question. “Would you prefer that I not relay those messages?” Lonnie asks.

Catra tries to keep her voice neutral. “It’s probably best that I’m aware of them. Whatever.”

Lonnie seems to be working hard to put up a veil for Catra. That’s certainly interesting. “Intel says they might try sending someone again. How would you like to prepare for that?”

“Who?” She ignores how her tail starts to lash. The last, and only, Bright Moon visitor had been that archer. Gods know what was going on in the sparkly head of that Queen, but she thought he could reason with Catra. He didn’t make it past the first guard before Catra and a group of cadets were attacking him from above. Just lazily pelting him with rotten food and taunts about his exposed midriff, lest this be seen as an act of aggression.

Lonnie merely shrugs, her locs falling off of her shoulder. When had her hair gotten so long, her face thinned out a bit? “Not sure yet. Should I prepare the compost just in case, Commander?” She was joking. Probably. Unclear actually.

But in case not, “Did we decommission all the catapults?”

“You want to hit them before they get out of the Whispering Woods?” There was a slight hint of delight in Lonnie’s voice.

Catra scoffs lightly. “No. I want to give them a quick and easy passage back to Bright Moon.”

Lonnie almost grins. “Never let anyone say the Horde isn’t hospitable.” She promptly leaves. Catra’s not sure if Lonnie took either of those orders seriously but that’s a problem for the future.

A Bright Moon visitor. From what Catra’s heard, they’ve got half the Rebellion staying there on and off so it could really be anyone. Probably not anyone they’re truly terrified of the Horde killing so not Queen Glitter or _the traitor_ or the King that’s mysteriously returned. Maybe Arrow Boy again, Windy and Nets or whatever, that flower girl that seems to be there all the time. Probably not Scorpia or Entrapta – neither are exactly diplomats and both are likely to end up fighting Catra about the way that they left the Horde.

The Commander tells Rogelio to prepare for this, which of course, he’s already on. And then she returns to reading about agriculture in the Crimson Waste. If they can grow shit out in that barren wasteland, then they can help the Fright Zone continue its trek towards self-sustainability. 

This is good. This is a clear task. This is much better than wondering about what pathetic next move Bright Moon is going to try. This is much better than idle thoughts about _traitors_ who left and how gratifying it would be to finally have the last word for once. This is certainly much better than replaying Double Trouble’s words over and over again for the millionth time.

_“It’s you. You drive people away, Wildcat.”_

Catra does allow herself to wonder if Double Trouble ended up in Bright Moon after switching sides. That’s a visitor she wouldn’t mind. A chance to scratch their face right off. Good luck shifting after that!

That’s actually not a bad plan, regardless of the recipient. Maybe Bright Moon will get the message then. No declarations, no games, just claws. Catra can work with that.

### Chapter 1: “Strategy Versus Revenge”

Almost exactly two months after their last message from the Rebellion – wait, should we even be calling them that anymore? What the fuck are they even rebelling against? This is so stupid.

After the _Princess Alliance_ ’s most recent message, there’s a flurry of activity over the Horde Command comms. There’s an Alliance representative there to see the Commander. Catra has a decent understanding of Rogelio now but even she can’t quite make out what the hell he’s trying to tell her.

So instead she asks “Catapult?” His responding grunts don’t clarify anything for her. Where the hell is Lonnie?

There’s a sound over the comms that’s almost cackling. Oh, _there’s_ Lonnie. “Hold on the catapult. Over.”

Lonnie opens a direct line to Catra. “You might want to allow this one to enter, Commander. She looks like a woman on a mission.”

Catra rolls her eyes even though she knows Lonnie can’t see it. She hopes Lonnie can hear it in her tone at least. “If you’re letting an assassin in here so you can have my job, you should know that it’s not that great. I have this pesky second-in-command who ignores my orders and will need to be drawn and quartered.”

“Oh, I heard about her,” Lonnie radios. “She’s really hot and beefy and brilliant and has amazing hair. Unfortunately, she has an oblivious boss who hides in her creepy sanctum and seems to be slipping a bit cause she didn’t notice this was a diversion.”

Oh, _fuck_ Lonnie. Overly familiar bitch. Catra’s about to say as much to her when her ears flicker. There’s footsteps outside the sanctum threshold that don’t match Lonnie or Rogelio or anyone with clearance to anywhere near the Commander. No, these footsteps sound surprisingly similar to –

Lonnie’s voice breaks back in over the comms. “Positions!” and suddenly there’s activity again. Catra glances at her command central and sure as shit, there’s a lot more little dots converging around the Fright Zone. These Bright Moon assholes didn’t come for tea and condescension. They came for a fucking _fight_. 

And probably condescension. They are really super condescending and preachy. It’s literally the worst.

Catra jumps into battle mode but Lonnie and Rogelio are already ahead of her, ordering everyone to their stations. It’s not a fire fight yet but she wonders if that’s just a diversion for whatever assassin the Rebellion has sent. Catra doublechecks that the blaster she keeps under her desk is charged and ready. She considers leaping into the shadows to get the drop on the intruder. But she hesitates for a moment. Is it arrogance? Curiosity? They’ve just walked into her home, maybe she just doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of making her hide.

There’s the usual pneumatic whoosh as the doors open and confirm Catra’s suspicions.

Adora walks in with all the unearned confidence that only an absolute moron can have. Like she owns the fucking place and every single goddamn thing in it. Just stopping by for a casual check-in. She idly surveys the sanctum, glancing at the empty throne, the mess of Hordak’s equipment that Catra never bothered to throw out (minus the truly creepy clones and vials of biowaste), the large metal desk where Catra is seated, covered with books and scrolls and comms tech.

“ _Hey_ , Catra,” she teases. Adora’s posture is entirely too relaxed and Catra hates it. Hates how Adora is wearing sneakers of all things and her same stupid uniform. Her hair is down, like she isn’t even expecting to fight. She’s not carrying a visible weapon, but Catra reasons she doesn’t have to since she just showed up with a full Bright Moon battalion.

“Adora.” It’s clipped. Catra isn’t going to say what Adora _wants_ her to say, has invited her to say. They’re not friends, are barely even enemies these days, so they don’t get to use inside jokes anymore.

“Like what you’ve done with the place,” Adora says and it actually almost sounds genuine behind the teasing.

“I would have greeted you from the throne to give you the full effect, but unfortunately, I didn’t know you were coming. They don’t teach etiquette at Bright Moon?” Catra's return is lazy. She's not bothered that Adora is here. Not at all. Nope.

“Etiquette?” Adora laughs. “Is that what you were showing when you ran Bow out of here with rancid squash? When did you cut the ration bars, anyway?”

“Around the time I learned what Hordak was pumping them with to keep us fighting,” Catra responds. “And we were trying to help the boy. He wandered here so we assumed he was malnourished and confused. We’ve pretty clearly stated that no princesses need to come here.”

Adora continues to get closer to Catra’s desk.There’s no place for her to sit so instead she leans against it, looming over Catra.

Catra fights the urge to bare her teeth in response. What is it about goddamn Adora that constantly has Catra having to repress all of her instincts all the time?

Adora glances at Catra in the same way that she observed the room. Eyes sweeping quickly and taking it in before returning to meet Catra’s face. This close, Catra can see that Adora looks...different. Not monumentally, just vaguely more at ease than she’s seen her in awhile. Lonnie’s voice over the comms reminds Catra that Adora has every reason to feel that way; she probably thinks she has all the power right now with her ambush.

If she expects Catra to lose her cool or give Adora an excuse to order the strike, she’s going to be sorely mistaken. They’re still on Catra’s home turf and without She-Ra, she’s fairly certain she can take Adora. Catra’s not a scrawny 16 year old runt anymore; she’s taken down Shadow Weaver and Hordak, while Adora’s been living in the lap of luxury in Bright Moon. So she acquiesces to letting this play out in Command, rather than down with the troops. Less mess.

Or rather, less _physical_ mess.

She’s about to ask what the hell the idiot wants when Adora says, “You didn’t actually state that anywhere. That’s kinda the problem.”

“It’s fair to assume that you can’t come to someone’s home unless they invite you,” Catra notes. And then she almost slaps herself in the face when she realizes that this might all be about Adora wanting to stake her claim in the Fright Zone. If Adora says this is _her home_ , Catra might rip out every hair on both of their heads.

Instead, Adora, the dummy, just hums. “The Alliance has been attempting to make in-roads towards a treaty.”

“By playing telephone for months?” Catra scoffs. “We don’t need a treaty. We just want to be left alone.”

Adora’s tone grates on the bit of self-control that Catra has. “That’s the _point_ of a treaty, Cat-”

“ _Commander_ ,” Catra interjects.

Adora just smiles. “Sorry, _Commander_ , the Alliance was open to a treaty.”

“Past tense?” Catra asks flatly. “Is that why they’re waiting outside for you to give the strike order?”

“Oh, I’m not in command,” Adora says with a shrug. “If you were open to removing your forces from the villages you’ve occupied and relinquishing the Fright Zone to the Scorpion Kingdom, I think they’d be open to an agreement again. If not, we’ll have to come up with something else.”

There’s a buzzing at the back of Catra’s head. It’s faint. Just a light warning signal that something is very very wrong here. She needs to get this back under control.

“If you’re not here for a treaty and you’re not commanding the attack, what do you want, Adora?”

“You don’t want to talk about land?” Adora asks lightly. At Catra’s narrowed eyes, she continues. “Fine. I guess we can just catch up with each other then.”

Catra’s mind is screaming _what the actual fuck_ but she pretends to wait patiently.

“I’m going to get married,” is what somehow leaves Adora’s mouth. Like she’s talking about the weather or something and not shifting everything in Catra’s brain.

“Why-” Catra pauses when she realizes how strangled her voice sounds. She clears her throat and begins again. “Why are you telling me? In person? Right at this very inopportune moment?”

Adora laughs lightly as she shrugs. “Etiquette, I guess.” And now she’s moving slowly around the desk, inching closer to Catra.

Catra begins sliding her chair slowly _away_ from Adora. She swallows hard. “To who?”

Adora just tilts her head in response. There’s the tiniest of smiles on her lips and her eyes – Catra’s never seen this look in Adora’s eyes before. It’s mischievous and determined and almost kind? What the hell kind of game is Adora playing now?

“This is a new look,” Adora comments.

“Ditto,” flies out of Catra’s mouth before she can stop it. It seems to puzzle Adora for a moment and she pauses in her movements.

“I meant your uniform.”

“Well, Hordak was right about one thing – tunics are more comfortable than latex.” She uses this as an excuse to stand, if only to prevent Adora from continuing to hover over her. Catra gets up with a flourish that floofs out the wrinkles in her dark blue tunic. She’s wearing slate-colored shorts underneath and the tunic has no sleeves so the outfit will do for fighting in a pinch, but she does regret not putting on her old uniform. She would have liked to be better prepared for...whatever this weird thing is that they’re doing right now.

To Catra’s surprise, Adora does not take a step back when she stands so they’re now only a few inches apart. Adora’s packed on a bit more muscle since the last time they saw each other, when she’d captured Adora in Elberon as a ploy to get Double Trouble embedded within the Rebellion. Adora’s a bit taller too. Teenage Catra would have absolutely lost her mind at the sight, she thinks ruefully. Commander Catra would not, she reminds herself.

Adora, for her part, doesn’t even try to hide her appreciation, eyes going soft while her smile turns sharp. “I like it a lot.” And now Catra’s aware for the first time of how the belt she’s wearing cinches the tunic at her waist, accentuates her chest. How the tunic has slits on the bottom that allow you to far too easily see how tight her undershorts are. Stupid uniform designers. “You looked really good in the latex too though.”

“I don’t think whatever idiot you’re marrying will want you here, commenting on when the Horde Commander looks good.” Catra might have whispered that. It’s hard to tell cause suddenly there’s a lot less oxygen in this room. Over the comms, her troops are still holding, everyone within the Fright Zone as tense as working an underused muscle after several months.

Everyone except Adora apparently, who again does an infuriating shrug. “I don’t think she’ll mind.”

This is all slipping out of Catra’s hands very quickly.

The detached facade breaks. Adora has pulled her in too deeply now. Catra’s practically shrill when she asks, “ _She_?”, as if that makes it worse. What was she hoping? That Adora and Bow fell in love over their shared connection of being overly earnest, muscle-bound dolts? Or that Adora’s with that absolute asshole who is always singing and setting fires? “Who is it? Queen Sparkles?! War is over so there’s time for romance and dates and princess bullshit?!”

Adora practically fucking _beams_. “No, we’ve kinda been together for years, my betrothed and I.”

“Betrothed?! What a fancy fucking word they taught you. How nice for you. Don’t expect me to send anything to the wedding. Though, that’s a perfect opening for a mass poisoning.” Shit, that wasn’t a bad idea. Shouldn’t have given herself away.

Catra has accidentally launched herself a bit closer to Adora during her rant. When Adora only chuckles in response, Catra’s hand flies out since it’s not connected to her brain anymore. It nearly hits Adora straight in the damn throat before the princess grabs her wrist.

Fuck a treaty. Fuck the Alliance. Fuck Adora.

With her free hand, Catra reaches towards the communication device. If she’s going down today, it’s not without a fight.

Adora, of course, must have anticipated this cause she grabs Catra’s other hand in a tight hold. They exchange short kicks and parries before Adora manages to dodge a headbutt from Catra that probably would have knocked out a few of those pretty little teeth.

Goddamnit. Suddenly, Catra’s 16 again joking and tussling with this idiot. Adora is way way too close. Closer than they’ve been in literally years. Adora smells the same, Catra notices, except with a hint of something. Lavender or something flowery. Like Queen Pastel has been rubbing herself all over Adora.

It happens so suddenly that it catches her off guard. All of those instincts that she had shoved down, exploding onto the surface. Teeth bared. Growl echoing throughout the sanctum. Rising up to her full height to overpower Adora. 

Catra twists her hands out of Adora’s grip with a strength she’s not sure she’s ever had before. She grabs Adora’s wrists and pushes the girl against the desk, Adora bending backwards at the waist with the force of Catra’s fury.

“Stupid smug face” are the only words coming out of her own mouth that she can understand. She shoves her hand over Adora’s mouth but war has made Adora dirty cause she bites down _hard._ Catra lets go and Adora uses that distraction to yank Catra so that her body falls down and covers the blonde’s.

Faces only inches apart, Adora chuckles. “Jealous, kitten?”

Adora has probably not called her that out loud to her face since they were small kids. The words startle her enough that Catra stops fighting for just a moment, wondering who the hell this Adora is.

Then, because Catra is obviously having a nightmare that she can’t wake up from, Adora grabs Catra’s hip in one hand, her ass in the other, and shoves a very muscular thigh between her legs.

Catra takes some enjoyment in the fact that even this confident, absolutely insane Adora doesn’t get the angle correct. So she properly straddles Adora’s thigh. She then realizes what she’s done and wishes she were dead instead.

“- the fuck…” Catra barely manages to croak out before one or both of them begins to move in earnest and she’s definitely now grinding her clothed pussy on Adora. The thought makes her moan so loudly that she’s immediately mortified.

Adora, on the other hand, is practically preening under Catra. To finally wipe that smug smirk off of her face, Catra shoves her leg against Adora’s center and twists her hand into Adora’s hair, yanking harshly. That just seems to make Adora’s smirk harder somehow. Vaguely in the back of her mind, Catra muses on if Adora intentionally kept her hair down for this. That would assume pre-planning. _Wait_ , did Adora _plan –_

That thought is cut off by Adora very loudly moaning, “Fuck, Commander.” Catra has never heard Adora curse before. She grinds and thrusts harder, seeing if she can make that happen. “Yessss. Fuck! Just like that.”

For the next few moments, neither of them says anything, just pushing and pulling against each other, moaning and breathing heavily together.

Adora’s near-panting when she mumbles, “We don’t have a lot of time.” Catra has no idea what that means so she just picks up the pace in response.

Adora suddenly seems to remember that she was a working mouth and begins biting and tonguing along whatever parts of Catra’s neck and collarbone that she can reach. It’ll likely bruise. Lonnie’s gonna have a fucking field day with that.

Catra yanks Adora’s hair again, the princess baring her neck instead.

“Come on, Commander. We don’t have a lot of time,” she repeats. Catra must somehow emote ‘confusion’ along with ‘the most turned on she’s even been’ cause Adora breathily elaborates. “The troops didn’t come _with_ me.”

Catra has the presence of mind to somehow realize that this isn’t about her or the Fright Zone, at least not directly. Her tail feels around behind her and hits the comms button. She shoves her hand over Adora’s mouth again long enough to order Lonnie to stand down. Is it possible to be so horny that you lose your mind? Lonnie responds like she knew that was going to happen but Catra has to close the open line quickly cause Adora isn’t staying quiet for long. 

“Good kitten,” Adora moans, neck bared again. She isn’t being subtle about it at all.

They’ve already gotten this far so there’s really no need to hold out anymore. Everything in Catra wants to bite Adora. Hurt her. _Claim her_ something in her blood screams.

Catra’s teeth close right over Adora’s pulse point, breaking the skin a bit. She can taste the metal in her mouth.

“Yes!” Adora screams. “That’s my kitten.”

Catra releases Adora’s skin to mumble against her throat, “Yours. And you’re _mine_.”

“Always,” Adora moans before she begins to tremble against Catra, loudly announcing her incoming orgasm and begging Catra to cum for her. The sight of Adora begging, in particular, seems to do the trick because Catra cums growling Adora’s name, stars exploding behind her eyes before she collapses on top of the girl.

Lonnie warns that there’s an incoming towards Command but Catra hasn’t quite gotten her sea legs back yet. Adora has wrapped both arms around her torso and is rubbing her cheeks all over Catra’s chin and throat. Marking her.

Moments before the Bright Moon troops enter, Catra picks up a sound that she imagines Adora can’t quite hear. A swirling, popping, grating symphony that lasts for about 20 seconds before poof! There’s a flash of confetti and the Queen is standing in the middle of her sanctum. Adora and Catra haven’t moved an inch so this looks...damning, to say the least.

“ADORA!” Sparkles squeals in outrage.

Catra isn’t moving cause fuck she’s never cum that hard before and also because she feels deeply out of place in our own sanctum for once. So Adora’s forced to crane her neck to look at Queen Sparkles from upside-down.

She says far too brightly, “Oh, hey, Glimmer!”

And then there’s roughly 2 dozen armed Bright Moon guards converging on Catra and Adora from all sides. Catra wisely decides to slowly stand up then. She’s not certain what to do with her body beyond that though.

Adora, however, looks so calm and in control when she stands that Catra is surprised to find that she’s very very angry with her. Adora set her up. This whole thing _was_ some twisted game. Get Catra to cum her brains out so that she’s easier to apprehend. Her claws extend unconsciously. She’s got the blaster under her desk, a few weapons in the room, and absolutely nothing to lose since she just ticked the most important thing off of her bucket list.

She begins crouching down to pounce. Glitter and Adora's eyes are firmly locked on each other and Catra hasn’t quite figured out which one to attack first. Glitter is powerful, and Catra senses, maybe even more so since their last fight. Adora has betrayed her _yet again_. Strategy versus revenge?

“Adora, what are you even doing here?” Shimmer screeches. Catra can feel a mild migraine forming already.

Adora shrugs. This is apparently her default move today. “I just came by to visit my mate.”

Her _what?!_

“Your WHAT?!?” Thank the Gods for Glitter cause Catra’s no longer able to form words.

Adora beams and puts her arm around Catra’s waist. Catra’s tail hits the comms button to open a line to Lonnie. Catra is clearly hallucinating so she needs an objective witness, even if it’s only audio.

The stupid princess of power continues, “My mate. Catra.” Sparkles’ eyebrows are all the way up to her hairline now and she’s nearly shaking with rage and confusion. When she turns to Catra, the Commander pulls it together just enough to smirk and wave. The little shit looks like she’s about to swallow her tongue. Good, Catra hopes she chokes on it.

“Adora, I gave you a direct order to stand down. This is treason!”

Adora waves a dismissive hand. “It’s not anything worse than all the times you disobeyed Angella’s orders.” For a second, it sounds like Sparkles actually does choke. “Besides, you were very close to violating the rules of the Alliance and I had to intervene.”

“What rules?!”

Adora takes on that super annoying air that she gets when she incorrectly convinces herself that she’s the smartest in the room. Catra is grateful to not be on the receiving end for once.

“Princesses and, by extension, their spouses have immunity for whatever we are forced to do during war. I am a princess an-”

“ _She-Ra_ is a princess,” Glimmer corrects.

“Yes, and I am her.” Adora pauses to point at the _extremely_ visible chunk of her neck that Catra removed with her teeth. “By Magicat law, which Bright Moon recognizes, I am Catra’s mate. Her arrest is unlawful.”

So. A few things: the Alliance was going to arrest Catra? Okay, sure. Adora broke the rules? Uncharacteristic but not unheard of. Catra and Adora had sex? Catra’s mind can’t quite comprehend that one yet. Lastly, Catra just accidentally married Adora? Fucking hell.

The hand on her waist squeezes a bit twice. When they were kids, one squeeze of a hand meant “you ok?”; two squeezes meant “follow my lead.” Catra’s able to pull herself together just enough to both somehow remember this and also put her arm around Adora as if she has any clue what’s happening here.

Glitter chokes again.

“Yep,” Catra drawls. “What she said.”

Over the comm link, Lonnie cackles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably update Tuesday evenings.
> 
> A lot of Adora’s actions in this are inspired by Noelle’s tweet that Adora is a Slytherin pretending to be a Gryffindor. As a fellow Capricorn and Slytherin, that's the most Capricorn shit I've ever read. "I'm not being manipulative, I'm just doing what's best for everyone!"


	2. Factual, Not Honest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I hate you,” Catra whispers in Adora’s ear. It should come out spiteful and biting and destroy Adora’s heart. Instead, they both notice that it sounds a bit closer to a purr. Adora just smiles.
> 
> Catra and Adora navigate some treason and some talking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huge thanks to everyone who read and engaged with chapter one. Y'all are real kind.
> 
> On to chapter two. Bow! Netossa! also Perfuma, Spinnerella, and Micah. Some processing and light angst ahead along with some (very light, very vague) mating bite lore.
> 
> Posting early today cause the day hasn't even started and I can already tell it's going to go off the rails.

It wasn’t until they got to Bright Moon that Catra realized this would be the first time she’d seen the inside. She hadn’t even come close since the Battle of Bright Moon when that fucking rainbow friendship power magic bullshit had blasted her out of the water. She had imagined at the time that her entrance into the castle would include her destroying the Moon Stone, scratching obscene words into all the fancy art with her claws, and trying to seduce Adora on the throne. The Gods laugh when you make a plan or whatever. 

Also, she just had _sex_ with Adora. How was she still able to walk and think? It felt like she should maybe take 20 minutes or a full lifetime to process that and what it meant.

Glitter’d had other thoughts though. She and Adora argued forever about whether or not Catra should be handcuffed. Taking the Horde Commander to Bright Moon seemed like a given to them apparently, but the method is what they wanted to settle. Catra ordered Lonnie to please stop finally cackling and protect the Fright Zone. She knew enough about Bright Moon’s stupid laws to know that they couldn’t just occupy the Horde’s territory for no reason, especially if they weren’t actually able to try Catra for “war crimes” or whatever. Like since when was blowing up a gate a _crime_?

They settled on no handcuffs and Catra agreed that the Horde would not attack in exchange for her going peacefully and taking all the Bright Moon guards with her. Glitter ordered the guards out and teleported herself and the _newly married couple_ back to her throne room.

When they land, the only thing keeping Catra from crumbling to the marble ground and puking all over it is Adora’s strong arms.

“I got you,” Adora was whispering into her hair. “Just take a couple deep breaths. You’ll get used to teleporting.”

“No! She won’t! She won’t be here long enough to!” Glitter shouts. She teleports herself up onto her throne. “Bow!”

The archer comes scrambling into the room. He was probably hiding behind the door, waiting for her to return. Catra peaks over her shoulder and sees that he wasn’t alone. Wind, Nets, King Guy, and Flower are all there, pretending to be invisible by the doorway.

For appearances, Catra manages to right herself. Leaning into Adora’s hold felt nice and since Catra no longer had any firm ground with which to understand the world anymore, she just goes with it. Adora’s hold tightens protectively. Catra glances at her face – it looks affable enough but the way she’s flexing her jaw unconsciously gives her nervousness away.

“I hate you,” Catra whispers in Adora’s ear. It should come out spiteful and biting and destroy Adora’s heart. Instead, they both notice that it sounds a bit closer to a purr. Adora just smiles.

“I know,” she whispers back.

“I’m going to destroy you all,” Catra continues, her voice again failing her. She feels more justified than ever now, she just needs to get her body and whatever’s happening in her chest to cooperate.

“I’m sure you’ll try,” Adora returns. “You’ll have lots of opportunities when we’re done here.” Two squeezes on her hip again.

Catra catches Bow’s eyes on her. And then Adora. Adora’s arms on Catra. The giant mark on Adora’s neck.

He looks a little faint. “Your Majesty?”

“I have to arrest Catra and then I have to arrest Adora. And I have to do both of those without destroying the foundation of our kingdom’s laws.” Glitter has a talent for summation.

The boy whisper-shouts to Adora (and literally everyone in the kingdom, with the way the sound bounces off the large empty room), “What did you do??!?”

Again, the goddamn shrug. “I protected my mate,” she says simply.

Catra decides that this has gone on long enough. She begins to open her mouth to speak and Adora starts squeezing her hip like she’s trying to type a distress signal in morse code. “Right, Catra?”

The Commander considers the room, the limited amount of power and options she has right now. “...right,” is about all she can manage at this moment.

“Mate.” The word knocks all the wind out of Boy. 

The King chooses that instance to subtly stroll into the room as if he hasn’t heard every single thing so far. “Greetings, everyone.” He turns to Catra and extends a hand. “I’m King Micah.”

Catra narrows her eyes but shakes his hand anyway. “Catra. Horde Commander.”

“My mate,” Adora practically sings. After she processes the sex, Catra would also like to add mates, Magicats, Adora’s weirdly specific knowledge of the first two, and Adora’s _pride_ at being _Catra’s mate_ to the list of things to work through. Or put in a box and never think of again. What even is a Magicat? Catra isn’t sure she likes what she thinks Adora’s trying to imply by using that word.

Micah has kind eyes. Like a sucker. His smile is very gentle (and confused). “I see. Pleasure to meet you, Catra. And congrats?”

The net one snickers from the door. “I win. Pay up.” Catra turns to see the pink one rolling her eyes at the other woman.

“They’re wives! Like us!” Adora explains, pointing at them. She probably thinks this is helpful. It is not. Everyone else’s exasperated face seems to agree.

“Unh-unh,” Nets shoots back immediately. “Don’t bring my marriage into whatever mess this is.”

Glitter’s going to have a fit. “Can you all just come in please?! And don’t encourage them! This is treason!”

The pink one comes over and starts introducing herself and all the others. Spinnerella, Netossa, Perfuma. This is of no consequence to Catra.

Shimmer says as much, “She doesn’t care! She’s just gonna call you whatever weird name she makes up in her mind anyway!”

Catra decides to annoy Sparkles more by repeating everyone’s name back to them and saying how she’s pleased to meet them formally. She uses her fancy Commander voice and everything so it sounds more official. Adora’s eyes are so full of pride that Catra actually has to look away. Glitter looks like her head’s going to pop off.

Boy takes this as his cue to jump in. “I think Queen Glimmer should debrief all of the Alliance members on exactly what has happened here. Seems like everyone made,” he falters here, has to hold back a grimace, “...some interesting choices and we need to review these all. Then, we’ll revisit the conversation that we’ve been having. Until then, Adora and Catra should get settled in?”

A thought occurs to Catra. She realizes that just a bit earlier she thought that Adora was going to marry Queen Shiny, but seeing how Bow and the girl look at each other, she understands how wrong she was. “Are you two mates? Why do you still have to call her ‘queen’?”

Suddenly, the only sound is Adora whispering to Catra, “Oh, no.”

Just as sudden: “Adora is under arrest! They’re both under arrest!” Glitter raises her hands and looks around as if everyone has gone insane except for her.

Bow is meanwhile wringing his hands and mumbling to Catra, “We’re just friends. We’re not even dating. It’s not like that,” and then a bunch of words about how long they’ve known each other. Micah looks extremely worried, maybe a little betrayed. Netossa is eating this up though.

“Okay, everyone,” Perfuma chimes in, “Let’s just take a breath and stay on track. I think we should not be too hasty with any decisions that we make. I agree that Catra and Adora should take some time to...talk. The rest of the Rebellion will convene and Glimmer can get us up to speed.” She turns and approaches Catra very gently, like she’s walking up to a feral animal. “Perhaps you’d like some tea, maybe some food?”

In all honesty, Catra hadn’t really been taking super good care of herself lately and food sounded amazing. “Yeah, that sounds fine,” she said, non-committedly. “ _Mate_ , are you hungry?”

“Always, mate!” Great. Catra could trick Adora into testing all the food first to make sure it’s not poisoned. “We can have whatever we want brought to our room.”

Before anyone can respond, Adora is grabbing Catra’s hand and running out the door excitedly.

“ _Our_ room?!” they can hear Shimmer screaming.

Bright Moon is...a lot. Everything looks expensive and fragile and Catra’s claws ache trying not to scratch everything up as they run. As it is, she’s sure the claws on her feet are ruining their floors. 

Adora’s room is no different. She spends entirely too much time trying to use a tour of the room as a distraction. By the time she’s thoroughly babbled about the difference between the waterfall, the sink, the shower, the bathtub, the toilet, and the various other places that apparently all contain water, Catra has had enough breathing room to almost catch up to what’s happening here.

She interrupts by calmly asking, “What kind of stupid ass game are you playing here?” Adora is somehow caught off guard by this very reasonable question. She’s about to reply when Catra clarifies, “Me being here, not all the useless water contraptions.”

“I was trying to save your life,” she responds simply. “Also, most of them aren’t useless.”

“You married me without my consent!” 

Adora, ever the asshole, points out, “ _You_ bit _me_.”

And yes, that’s a _factual_ assessment of what happened, but it does not feel like an _honest_ version of events.

“Honestly,” Adora continues, “I wasn’t even sure if you knew what marriage was so I couldn’t just go ask you. I didn’t really get it until I was in Bright Moon for a while.”

“I’ve picked up a few things from the outside world. That excuse really doesn’t hold a lot of water.”

Adora nods shortly. Then she seems to pivot, giving a confident half-smile. “Look, you’re not in a prison cell. You haven’t been executed. You live to fight another day, Commander. I don’t think it was a bad plan, of the few options available to us.”

Catra would like to say “maybe talking to me was an option”, but she considers how that might have gone and yes, maybe, Adora went the only route that would have gotten a semi-positive result. Not that Catra being in Bright Moon is a good thing. There’s so much natural light and so much unnatural pink and purple and goddamn magic. Everything has a smell, which is super distracting, and all the sounds are new and Catra finds herself already going into sensory overload. Honestly, maybe the Fright Zone prison was a better option; at least there would be comfort in the familiarity.

There’s nothing in Bright Moon that she knows. That includes the idiot looking at her, smug face slowly descending into uncertainty the longer Catra remains silent.

Catra just sighs and walks away. The bed looks very very soft. The real one, not the sad mattress that she’s sure Adora pulled into here so that she didn’t become too spoiled or something silly after defecting. Catra flings herself onto the large bed and it is indeed the best experience she’s ever had. Maybe second best. There were some...enjoyable things that happened earlier that day.

It’s probably best to focus on one thing at a time so that will have to wait until later. Catra closes her eyes for a moment. She doesn’t feel like she knows Adora well now, but she trusts that Adora won’t suddenly stab her while she tries to pull her thoughts together.

Being Adora’s mate is not ideal for a number of reasons: she hates Adora. Adora is supposed to hate her. She has to be in Bright Moon, which Catra also hates. She’s surrounded by a bunch of people she’s tried to kill many, many times. She now owns Adora or something, which used to be a dream of hers, and is now a waking nightmare with way too much pressure. Catra can’t be in charge of this idiot. Especially when Adora goes and does catastrophic shit like _marry her mortal enemies_ without their prior approval. They haven’t even kissed!

Catra is absolutely forbidding herself from thinking about kissing Adora ever again. 

“Do you want to talk?” Adora tentatively asks.

“No.”

“Okay.” 

Catra peeks her eyes open and Adora’s just standing in the middle of her own huge room, wringing her hands and looking awkwardly between the floor and the wall. This Adora – _this_ is the one Catra had known her whole life. Caring, unsure, super weird. This is the person who always stood up for her, took the fall for her, challenged her, tried to keep up with her. Made her feel safe. 

Catra stares for a bit longer and something starts to stir in her. Beyond the resentment and anger, there’s a draw between them. It’s always been there a bit, hiding, but it’s so much stronger now. Adora’s across the room but Catra can smell her – _her_ Adora, plus nervous sweat and Catra’s own scent all over her. 

She unconsciously lets an arm extend from the bed and Adora immediately snaps to attention and begins walking towards Catra. She’s almost in a trance and her eyes are so fucking determined and intense that Catra has to immediately pull back.

“Stop!” her quiet whisper sounds panicked even to her own ears. Adora immediately stops. She takes a moment to shake the intensity out.

“What the hell is happening?” Catra asks. A part of her secretly knows already.

“I think it’s the bite,” Adora confirms. “Is it okay if I sit down?” Catra imagines that Adora needs to be close to her. Largely because she feels the impulse too. So she nods and Adora pads over, moving as gently as she can manage. She sits down lightly but respectfully places a good amount of space between the two of them.

Adora continues, “I was doing some research about the different peoples who used to inhabit Etheria when I got the idea. Really fascinating reading. There were actually a couple different feline-like species. Magicats were just the most recent and had a kingdom that Bright Moon used to recognize before it was los-.”

“Focus, dummy.”

“Sorry! Yeah, bites. It was common practice for couples. There were rituals and stuff usually. Mating bites – claiming bites – solidified a partnership. A marriage. Right after the bite, things are supposed to be very intense.”

_‘Claim her’_ had been playing in a loop in Catra’s head earlier. Stupid instincts. Stupid dead possible ancestors.

“You asshole. You can’t solidify partnerships that _half_ of the couple doesn’t want!” She pauses, the last of what Adora said, and the fact that she herself just referred to them as a ‘couple’ of all fucking things, catching up to her. “Intense _how_?” This feels less stressful to focus on than her slip.

Suddenly, Adora can’t meet her eyes. “Well, the instinct to...um...physically mate, especially. Nesting. Protecting. Being drawn to each other, more aware of each other.”

“Yeah, you smell like flop sweat. It’s filling up the whole room.”

Adora laughs nervously. “Ha. Sorry. This whole thing has been nerve-wracking.”

This was all Adora’s mess so Catra doesn't think she should get to be worried about this. No one asked the dummy to throw herself into getting involved. Fuck Adora for taking the choice away from her. Catra has an idea of how to make them a bit more even though. 

“Do we have to exchange bites?” she asks, about as casual as she can manage. That must have been the wrong question cause Adora panics, eyes going wide and her whole body fidgeting.

“No, no. Uhm...no? Not unless you want to, I mean! My teeth are pretty flat. It’ll probably be painful. Like that time I tried to cut your hair with that dull knife.”

Catra laughs at the memory. When they were 9, another cadet made fun of her mane, calling it dirty and gross and a rat’s nest. Catra managed to scratch the kid’s arm up pretty badly before Adora pulled her away. Once they were alone though, she broke down in tears and desperately begged Adora for a haircut. They didn’t exactly have school supplies or kitchen utensils laying around the Fright Zone. Adora found what was probably an old hunting knife and tried to help, but it was hopelessly dull and she just ended up pulling Catra’s hair repeatedly instead. They gave up after a while, once Adora assured Catra that she loved her mane and that it was one of the most unique and beautiful things about her.

She realizes that Adora is laughing at the memory too and looking at her like she did that day. All big dumb loving blue eyes.

Oh, this mating thing is _awful_.

Catra buries her face in the pillows. Stay on track, Commander, she reminds herself. She’s trapped here while those poofs decide her fate, she’s married now somehow, and Lonnie will only hold back from attacking for so long. Or not. Based on the way she was cackling, Lonnie might just let this play out to punish Catra for a lifetime of fighting.

“Okay,” Catra begins, slightly muffled by the pillow. She turns her head so Adora can understand her. “So you planned the bite?”

Adora nods, a bit shamefully. “I really am sorry for not giving you a choice. I know so much of our lives – _your_ life has been not having a choice over what happens to you.”

To be fair, a part of Catra knew she was staking a claim over Adora. That was the whole point really. She just didn't realize it was _legally binding_.

She'll pack that away to deal with after she gets her head on straight about the rest of this disaster. “All of this just cause they want to arrest me? Why now?”

With a sigh, Adora lies down next to Catra, still keeping a careful distance. “Honestly? I think they’re bored and scared. Scorpia’s been spending the past year between here and Plumeria and I think she misses her home. I suggested she just go back and talk to you but.”

Catra flops over to face her. She hadn’t considered Scorpia ever wanting to return. No one had ever come back before. Or at least, Adora hadn’t.

The silly bite thing must have also opened a telepathic line between the two of them or something cause Adora starts to scramble, “I mean, I wanted to too. Mission’s over, right? There’s no more war. We’ve all heard how you’re running things. It’s not the same Horde. You’re actually helping those villages, governing fairly.”

Anger. Just pure rage bubbles up in Catra’s throat. She has to consciously stop herself from shaking. “I don’t need more Force Captains,” she says coldly.

“That’s not exactly how I’d like to come back…”

“You defected.”

“Catra…” Adora whispers desperately.

“You don’t get to have people in your life when it’s _convenient_ to you!”

When Adora begins to cry, Catra feels a bit better. “I know. I never wanted to leave _you_ , just _there_. I’m sorry. We just miss you and our home.” Adora doesn’t get to miss her. Shouldn't be allowed to after everything.

“Bright Moon is your home.”

“It’s really not,” Adora says. There feels like there’s a lot there but Catra isn’t in the mood to drag out all of Adora’s emotions for her right now.

So instead she says, “You suggested Scorpia talk to me and then what happened?”

“Glimmer happened,” Adora grumbles while wiping her face. “First, she wanted assurance that you wouldn’t just pick up the war and start fighting again if the Alliance started losing princesses. We tried to explain that no one is leaving the Alliance but then Frosta and Mermista got involved and it spiraled from there. Now, they want the runestone – the Black Garnet – back.”

Catra never went near that thing and everyone was banned from entering the chamber. Too many awful memories of Shadow Weaver manipulating the runestone’s power. But if the Alliance needed it, maybe it was worth keeping. At least as a bargaining piece...

“But I guess those things have to stay where they are,” Adora continued. “Then they wanted the land back that the Horde has taken. Even the towns under your protection now, they want to give them back to the kingdoms that they were previously in. Then they decided that you should cede the Fright Zone so Scorpia can rebuild her family’s kingdom.”

“What greedy little prisses.”

Adora genuinely laughs at that. Catra is surprised at how nice it sounds.

“I knew you would say that!”

“So, once they had all their demands, they all realized that the thing that would make it sweetest is my head on a platter?”

Adora sighs again. “I think it’s...coincidental almost? They can’t really make you do anything without force. They don’t want to start a war again. So they’re dressing it up as a trial for your crimes. You go to trial, you’re found guilty, they can disband the Horde and retake the land. I think it feels really simple for some of them.”

“Why are you telling me this? Adora, why are you trying to help me at all?”

“Because you’re Catra.” She says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “I could never...I _have never_ given up on you.”

Adora is a naive idiot. But Catra doesn’t have a plan yet so she’ll put up with this. Just for a little while. The bed is comfortable at least and maybe a short vacation isn’t a bad idea.

Catra can’t help herself though. “This plan is incredibly short-sighted.”

“I know.”

“There’s so many variables. You’re trying to simultaneously manipulate at least 12 different people.”

“I know.”

“You’ve already almost gotten yourself arrested for treason.”

“I know.”

“And I still hate you.”

“I know! Jeez,” Adora is exasperated but somehow still laughs. “Glimmer wasn’t supposed to arrest you today. She was supposed to send out another request for a treaty discussion. But she pulled a fast one and suddenly the guards were heading out and I might have acted...impulsively.”

What a fucking understatement that is.

“And you and Glitter…?”

“Are not engaged for the record,” Adora laughs again. “You were always the jealous type. Poor Lonnie almost got her eyes scratched out so many times.”

Catra growls in warning but Adora just shakes her head in amusement.

“Really, Glimmer and I – things are complicated. We had some big fights, mostly thanks to you and Double Trouble. Our friendship never really recovered. I’m not She-Ra anymore and they all look at me so differently.”

“Oh, poor Adora,” Catra says. It accidentally comes out half-concerned.

“I don’t expect you to understand. You’ve found your place. You’re so good at being Commander. You don’t need magic or a destiny or anything. I’m just...adrift, I guess.”

They haven’t been this vulnerable with each other in a long time. It makes Catra feel wrong in her skin. She rubs her arms, which Adora immediately misunderstands. She’s sitting up before Catra can ask what’s happening. 

“You’re cold. There’s blankets.” Adora begins tucking Catra in a bit too tightly. “There’s more in the closet, if you need! I can get us a warmer room. I can-”

“What are you doing, you weirdo?”

Adora stops, halfway towards running out of the room. “I don’t know.” She looks confused with herself as she begins to walk back towards the bed. “Maybe it’s the bite? Protective instincts, I guess? When Glimmer was talking about you on the throne, I had to hold back from growling at her. I don’t even know how to growl!”

“I’ve made you a feral beast like me,” Catra says, only half-joking. “Maybe this should have been my plan for world domination. Get all the strong, magical princesses to let me fuck them and bite them.”

At that, Adora actually does growl a little. She immediately covers her mouth and a muffled, “‘m sowwy,” comes out.

Catra cackles as she removes all the blankets. “You were always the jealous type,” she parrots back to Adora, smugly.

“I was not!”

“All the times you nearly punched Lonnie for saying something about my body. Or in the intra-cadet games when you’d go berserk if other kids talked to me.”

“I just didn’t like them crowding you with weird questions about your tail,” Adora grumbles.

Blankets removed, Catra begins rearranging the bed to be more comfortable. The thing has entirely too many pillows and linens, which need to be placed just right. Adora just watches with great curiosity. When she’s done, Catra lays down in her perfect cocoon with a content sigh. 

She then sits up with a start. “What the hell am I doing? I’ve never done that before.”

“Nesting,” Adora explains. “I think you used to do a version of this. Remember how specific the blankets had to be at the foot of my bed before you went to sleep?”

“Well, that was a protective layer to defend me from your night kicking.” Duh.

“If you say so, mate.” The word falls from Adora’s mouth like she’s not even realized she’s said it.

“So what happens next, _mate_?” Catra’s pretty sure she’s accentuating the word to show Adora how obvious she’s being. It’s not at all because she enjoys saying it.

“They’re going to fight,” Adora says with just a hint of regret. “The Alliance will fight about Glimmer’s decision and what I’ve done. That’ll take awhile. They were already split down the middle about how to handle the Horde land disputes.”

“Who are your allies?” It was hard not to get invested in this petty princess fight with her own life hanging in the balance.

“Scorpia, of course. Perfuma cause she’s reasonable and kind and believes in forgiveness.” Catra rolls her eyes at that. If the Alliance was thinking that she’d beg for forgiveness to keep what she’d earned, they were shit out of luck. “Entrapta when I can get her to sit down and listen. Spinnerella too.”

“So the other side is Sparkles, Water Girl, Ice Kid, and Nets?”

“I think you’ll have to actually learn their names if you want them to help us.”

“Meh. I’ll just fake it.”

Adora shoves her arm playfully. But then her hand just lingers on Catra’s bare bicep. Thinking it’s probably best not to mention that now or ever, Catra pushes forward.

“And Boy? King Guy? Fire Asshole? Horse?”

“Catra! You know their names!”

“All I care about is how they’re voting.”

With a groan, Adora says, “They’re not. Fucking _Bow_ decided that for once, only members of the actual Princess Alliance should vote. I think he just didn’t want to piss Glimmer off by taking my side again. But then Glimmer said _I_ had to be excluded because it was a conflict of interest so -”

Catra jumps in. “This was _before_ you trapped me into marriage with you, yes?”

“I didn’t trap you exactly. But yes.”

“...Why?”

Adora looks down. “I’m not rational when it comes to you. I never have been.”

“Yeah, no shit. My battle strategy for years has been to just have you chase me away from wherever you’re most needed in a fight. And you always follow. Like, every time. It was way too easy.”

Adora flushes. That’s interesting, Catra notes. Adora went a bit red when they were...mating...earlier. But this is a whole thing Catra’s never noticed before.

She does them both a favor and decides to just steer past this. “Yeah, so not rational. Okay. So they’ll be deliberating for a few days.”

“Likely more. They’ve been fighting about Glimmer’s Fright Zone plan for two months now.”

Catra startles. “Adora, I can’t stay here for _months_ . I have a life outside of this nonsense.” Maybe that was a stretch. She had work to do. Which Lonnie would do in her absence. She had...Gods, could she really not think of a single thing besides running the Horde? Did she do nothing else? That’s _fine_ , actually! That was enough!

Adora begins to gently rub Catra’s arm. “I get it. I’m sorry. But I’m working to help you keep that life. We can talk to Entrapta and see how we can make some stuff easier. Maybe a communication link to Lonnie? Some of your clothes and things brought here?”

This was supposed to be soothing. Why did it suspiciously feel like it was an excuse to move Catra further into Adora’s life? Even the touch was supposed to be calming but felt like fire on her skin.

Catra tried to distract herself with everything that could go horribly wrong instead. That was easy. “I can’t talk to Entrapta. She hates me. I sent her to Beast Island!”

Giggles begin pouring out of Adora. “You’re her hero! She had the time of her _life_ on Beast Island. We almost couldn’t get her to leave.”

Skeptical, Catra repeats, “Her hero? Really?”

“Okay, well, maybe not that exactly. But just talk to her and she’ll under-”

“What is with you and wanting to talk to everyone about their feelings?”

“I learned that it makes you feel better! Usually. We’re talking now and I feel better.” Then in a smaller voice, Adora asks, “Don’t you?”

Catra huffs. Adora was always easy to talk to when they were younger, even when Catra made it extra difficult by being, well, herself. It does feel better knowing what’s going on, what Adora’s been feeling this last year, that Adora wants to come home and misses her. It feels infuriating, yes, but also better. So Catra offers, “I guess, dummy.”

“Good.” Adora resumes stroking Catra’s arm. Catra closes her eyes for a second to just enjoy it. Since Scorpia left, she hasn’t honestly been touched in over a year. This is of course much nicer than Scorpia’s bone-crushing hugs. Gentler. Adora knows to pet with the grain so Catra’s fur doesn’t end up all ruffled. It’s nice that she remembers. Slowly, Adora’s petting begins going up to the top of Catra’s shoulder where her tunic starts and down to her wrist, leaving that fire in its wake again. That’s definitely a new sensation.

Catra considers asking Adora what it feels like for her or where’s the food or why she’s not fucking her right this moment now that they’re finally alone together again. But only one of those questions feels safe enough to put out into the universe. When Catra opens her eyes and looks at Adora though, the blonde is staring back so intently that Catra almost feels shy.

“What?” Catra asks quietly.

Adora swallows hard. Her voice comes out much lower than before. “Can I-”

That voice is doing some not great things to Catra. Maybe the best things. It’s too confusing to tell. 

She jumps in. “I believe you promised me food. Aren’t you supposed to provide for me and all that?”

There might be disappointment in Adora’s eyes. It comes and goes so quickly that it’s hard to catch and tie down. Then, Adora’s on her feet, leaping out of the bed excitedly.

“I can provide! I mean, the kitchen can. But, I’ll tell the kitchen. What do you like? I know the Horde has real food now – what’s your favorite? Or, what’s something you’ve never tried before?”

Catra has to take a moment to stop laughing at Adora to respond. “I don’t know, you weirdo. Have them send whatever. Lots of meat, though.”

“Whatever you want! I’ll be right back.” Adora rushes out into the hall.

In the silence of the room, Catra takes a moment to breathe. It still reeks of Adora in there, but at least she’s physically _gone_ so Catra can focus a bit better. She doesn’t have a full plan but she’ll work with what she can.

Adora waiting on her hand and foot is a good start. She’ll see how far she can push that. Catra deserves this after the way that Adora has treated her, especially this ridiculously dumb shit she just pulled with the bite. Adora can finally start making it up to her. If _Adora_ gets too attached, that’s her problem. And when Catra leaves and returns to the Fright Zone, _she’ll_ get to break Adora’s heart this time. Catra will go back solo. No mates. Adora will have to stay here in Bright Moon with these spoiled princesses who don’t even like her anymore. Hell, she might even get kicked out of here. Then she can be alone, like how she left Catra.

Maybe the Horde Commander can cause a little chaos within the Alliance along the way. Might as well make the most of her time in Bright Moon. Put a final nail in the coffin of this war without having to throw another punch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that's a lot of explaining the past few months. Chapter three preview - nudity! invasive personal questions! people falling off of things! and more?


	3. Emotional, Physical, Reproductive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I don’t want to make you...uncomfortable,” Catra pretends. This is literally all she wants in life.
> 
> Ways Bright Moon is different from the Fright Zone: awkward showers and awkward reunions. Ways they're the same: Catra keeps almost dying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoooooo, again thanks to everyone reading and commenting! 
> 
> CW: Brief mention of Shadow Weaver, unfortunately. Some general discussion about abuse, violence.

In the Fright Zone, Catra is always up by 0600 hours. Assuming she went to sleep the night before. Sometimes she just forgets and collapses at the command center. She always finds lots of time to nap though. Are there possibly good places to nap in Bright Moon? The moon seems to _always_ be shining.

Catra nearly woke up at her usual time this morning. But the (newer, smaller) nest she made was too comfortable and she didn’t actually have anywhere to be. Adora was still sleeping and with the princesses being on the aggressive, it probably wasn’t a good idea for Catra to wander the castle without her muscle-bound escort. She was _not_ above using Adora as a human shield in the event of an assassination attempt.

Oh, shit. They could just kill her. Bright Moon’s guards were soft but they had healers and mystics and princesses with uncontrollable tempers and magic shooting out of their hands. They had total control and the narrative of “we’re the good guys” on their side. If the Horde Commander ended up dead while in their custody, they just had to say that she attacked them first. Or she fell down all the slippery marble steps. Or she choked on their weirdly tender meats. Or –

“Catra,” Adora was mumbling quietly. “It’s okay. I think you’re just having a nightmare.”

Adora’s arms tighten around her. Had she moved from the foot of the bed?

Adora starts gently shushing her. “It’s just a bad dream.”

Catra slowly opens her eyes. She supposes that her half-awake spiral somehow morphed into dreams of her impending political assassination. Judging by the moons and the heat, it’s nearly mid-day now.

When they went to bed last night, Adora had gotten into her sad little mattress. After a while of tossing and turning, she’d slipped into the main bed, where Catra had built a nest at the foot; Catra had tried telling Adora to just sleep there earlier but Adora insisted on being weird about it, which made the whole situation awkward for everyone. 

Catra sniffs around and she’s definitely still in her nest.

“How did you get down here?” she asks, too asleep still to not be direct. She realizes that she doesn’t actually see Adora. She’s still curled in on herself and Adora is behind her, mirroring her position, with Catra engulfed in her arms.

“You were having a bad dream and fighting a bit in your sleep,” Adora murmurs. She sounds a bit muffled and Catra thinks Adora might have her whole face shoved into her mane like a weirdo. “Are you okay?”

They wear different clothes to sleep at night in Bright Moon, instead of their underclothes or just collapsing in their uniform. Adora let her borrow a set. The material is soft and thin, feels nice against Catra’s fur. It also means that she can feel literally every muscle in Adora’s body that’s touching her.

No. Catra is, in fact, not okay. She’s still very deeply angry with Adora and also deeply wanting Adora to be even closer to her right now.

Adora’s arms just tighten even more. This is not helping at all.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers gently. “Were you dreaming about –”

Catra knows that Adora is thinking about Shadow Weaver. They haven’t mentioned her yet, but Catra’s fairly certain that the sorceress is still skulking about in Bright Moon somewhere. She can feel whatever little residual magic that bastard has left circling about the castle. She’s not close at least and that’s all Catra cares about now. 

She’d been pissed off beyond belief when she found out that Shadow Weaver had fooled her and escaped captivity in the Fright Zone to join Adora with the Rebellion. Pissed enough to try to destroy the whole universe in revenge.

Catra can now admit that _maybe_ she overreacted a bit. She had spent enough time pondering it in the last year, replaying everything that led her to that point. Shadow Weaver was awful, but she was also all that Catra knew. Adora was oblivious, but she’d never intentionally played into Shadow Weaver’s attempts to pit them against each other. Shadow Weaver didn't hurt her because Catra didn’t try hard enough or Adora didn’t do enough to stop her. 

Shadow Weaver was just a fucking monster, Catra often had to remind herself when she was on the verge of blaming herself yet again. Who even knew why their guardian had been that way?

Really, only two questions were the last things that haunted her about Adora and Shadow Weaver: how could Adora so easily forgive that monster for what she had done to them, done to _Catra_? And if Catra came to Bright Moon, would she ever be welcomed with open arms and unconditional grace like Shadow Weaver had been?

“No,” Catra manages. She hasn’t really had a nightmare about Shadow Weaver _directly_ in months, after a lifetime filled with them. She decides this is a time that being honest will work for her. If Adora’s so committed to being her protector now – “It was about the princesses and the trial. About them killing me.”

Adora gasps, like she’s surprised this is a concern. The idiot likely thinks that everything will work out magically just cause she cares enough.

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” Adora promises.

“You can’t guarantee that.”

“Well, I’m going to try, Catra. I know them all pretty well. I know how this all operates. I’m going to do everything in my power to help you.” She pauses for a breath. “And if it doesn’t work, I’m going down with you. Glimmer can try me for treason.” She laughs, a little more darkly than Catra’s used to hearing. “I can keep you company in your cell while you remind me that you hate me and that my plan really was the worst.”

“I do hate you,” Catra lazily replies. “I haven’t told you that yet today.”

“Well, the day was still early but I’m glad you got it in. It’s nice to have someone directly tell me where I stand with them, for a change.”

Adora doesn’t appear to be letting go from her hold on Catra, even though the nightmare is long faded.

Catra clears her throat. “The day’s not really early anymore. Should we get up?”

“Do you have plans, Commander?” Adora teases. But she tightens her grip for just a moment before letting her arms fall away to her own sides.

Catra takes a moment to slowly sit up. The amount of bed that remains unfilled with her and Adora smushed down at the foot is almost comical.

“I don’t know,” Catra shrugs. “What do you usually do around here while you’re waiting for princesses to make life-altering decisions?” 

Adora’s eyes are so excited. Like she’s been waiting this whole fucking war just to tell Catra what mundane ways she spends her days.

“If I tell you, will you tell me what you do in the Fright Zone all day?”

Drawing this out by refusing will likely mean that breakfast gets delayed. Breakfast is worth it.

“That’s your one wish for the day. Wasted so badly, you fool.”

Adora’s practically vibrating. “Do I get a wish each day?!?”

“I was kidding, dummy.”

Adora’s face says she doesn’t get it. But she launches into an overly enthused, overly descriptive version of her typical day anyway. It’s mostly food, bathing, reading books, talking to people, training, and getting updates on the status of Etheria and where she might be able to help. There’s a sadness that’s hard to miss in her voice when she mentions that because she’s no longer able to transform into She-Ra, she usually isn’t needed anywhere.

With Adora’s near-constant bugging, Catra briefly illustrates her usual day: reviewing reports from the Fright Zone and villages, solving problems and disputes, yelling at Lonnie, being yelled _at_ by Lonnie, yelling at Kyle, occasionally eating, napping for 10 minutes at a time whenever she can, and training.

Catra notes that they both sound like shut-ins now. She hadn’t known that she was turning into Hordak until she heard herself say it out loud.

Adora, of course, does not notice at all. Her excitement is still at peak level.

“That sounds so awesome. I wish I was as smart as you, running everything.” She trails off and just stares at Catra entirely too earnestly.

Adora hadn’t mentioned having any set duties. This must be her worst nightmare – sitting on the shelf waiting, no goals, no challenges. That does at least partially explain Adora’s 110% commitment to her plan to save Catra from execution. _Partially_. 

Catra wonders if it’s safe to think about the other reasons why Adora steamrolled her into this plan. Guilt, certainly. Pity, maybe. Loneliness? Whatever the hell it is that Adora’s trying to tell her with her eyes when she stares at her like that?

Testing her half-formed hypothesis, Catra lowers her head and looks up at Adora through her lashes. Catra was planning to say...something suggestive probably. She honestly completely forgets once Adora starts turning red and sputtering immediately.

Catra smirks. “Did I rattle the great She-Ra with just my eyes?”

Adora lowers her head in shame while Catra giggles, high and squeaky.

“In my defense, they are very _striking_ eyes,” Adora mutters. “I missed hearing you laugh like that.”

Catra will not blush like this idiot. So she deflects. “I believe, great provider, that I was promised food.”

She expects Adora to jump up and begin wheeling in trays like she did last night. But Adora just stares into her eyes for a moment longer, before taking a deep, steadying breath. 

She sounds a bit odd when she says, “I can do that. Breakfast is served in the main dining room, not the formal one though. It’s late so everyone’s probably gone already. I know you don’t like crowds. I’m gonna take a quick shower and then we can head over.” She gets out of the bed and heads towards the bathroom.

Catra hates bathing but everything about Bright Moon makes her feel disgusting. 

“A shower sounds great actually,” she says and gets up to follow. Adora, now right at the threshold of the bathroom door, freezes like she’s sensing danger. “What’s wrong?”

Adora hesitates a moment. When she turns to Catra, she looks like she’s trying to figure out how to explain a puzzle to a child – all patience and kindness.

“Ahem, some, um, things at Bright Moon, uh, are–”

“The showers aren’t communal,” Catra finishes, remembering that the idiots at this castle are technically not an army so the facilities are probably different here. 

Internally, she’s mortified but she’s not sure why exactly. It’s not like she did anything wrong. She had no way of knowing this. She wasn’t trying to imply anything. She’s seen Adora naked before. No one could prove that she had planned or wanted this. 

Catra desperately hopes this spiral is not showing on her face.

“They’re not,” Adora agrees. She’s not panicked or freaked out at all, the dolt. “But, it’s a really big shower.” 

Catra wasn’t paying super duper attention to the tour of too many water devices last night. She can believe that this is true.

But. “I don’t want to make you...uncomfortable,” Catra pretends. This is literally all she wants in life.

“No, I get it. I had to get used to a bunch of new things when I first got here. I’m fine with you joining me. Unless... _you’re_ uncomfortable?” Adora does a very excellent job of not smirking, but she forgets to transmit the message to her eyes because they crinkle at the corners and twinkle a bit.

Catra’s not going to be the one to back down so this terrible idea is just going to happen. 

“Not at all.”

“Great,” Adora confirms. But her walk into the bathroom is just a little stiffer than it was before.

Hordak didn't have a bedroom, of course, because he was a weird space robot clone and didn't sleep. So when Catra rose to Commander, she remained in her private Force Captain quarters. There was a small bathroom with a sink and toilet and nothing else. Her whole life, she's never showered with less than 10 other disgusting youth.

The Bright Moon lackeys must have been playing a joke on Adora when they convinced her that this was a private shower. It was easily larger than the space the Horde used for a full class of recruits at a time. The whole thing was made of white and pink marble, with two porcelain water spouts at the top, situated at opposite ends.

“So how does this work?” Catra asks.

Adora hums. “Magic mostly, I think. It’s always the perfect temperature, it’s weird.”

That’s not really what Catra was asking, but fine. “Same rules as the Horde? No peeking? No touching?”

Catra’s pretty sure that Adora mumbles, “I didn’t realize that was on the table,” but what she says loud enough for non-enhanced ears to hear is, “Can we lift the 6-minute maximum though? I don’t feel like rushing today. I want to enjoy it.”

“Enjoy bathing? What a novel concept.”

Adora smirks. “I can help you enjoy it too.”

Catra raises an eyebrow. “Oh, really? How?”

“I can wash your hair!” she exclaims with a wild smile.

Catra wishes Adora had maybe been a little more...creative. She laughs at Adora’s continued excitement at the smallest things. Adora was always kinda obsessed with the idea of her hair.

“I’m pretty sure that counts as touching,” she teases.

Adora blushes a lovely light pink. “Right.”

Silently, they both select different corners of the gigantic shower and begin disrobing before easing under the water. Adora’s right, the temperature is perfect. The water feels much cleaner than the Fright Zone’s. This is the only shower that Catra has ever honestly enjoyed.

Well, not completely. Everytime she thinks Adora isn’t looking, she allows herself to take the tiniest peek. But, Adora has the spatial awareness and peripheral vision of one of those terrifying four-eyed Whispering Woods birds. She manages to nearly catch Catra every time before she can actually see anything. Then, Catra will feel Adora’s eyes on her, glance back, and catch Adora turning away quickly. This is not satisfying for anyone involved and happens maybe 10 times.

Catra tries to put an end to this stalemate.

Casually, she asks, “What’s the rule on self-touching?”

Adora gasps, “Catra!” and she just chuckles in response.

“What? It’s normal, right?. Nothing to be ashamed about.”

When she peeks over her shoulder, Adora has stopped bathing and is just boring holes into the wall with her eyes.

“Sound probably echoes too much in here anyway.”

“Yeah,” Adora replies. “You're pretty loud when you cum.”

“ _You_ were literally _screaming_ my name,” Catra immediately shoots back, trying to hide her shock over Adora actually addressing what happened between them.

“I blame the bite,” Adora grumbles.

“You can't blame that for everything forever. Besides, I'm not nearly that loud when I'm alone.”

Catra freezes. Any way that Adora interprets that statement can’t be good. The last thing she needs is Adora running around thinking she’s good at sex or something. Adora hesitates for a moment longer before she begins bathing again.

Trying to match Catra’s casual tone from earlier, she remarks, “If you ever need any time alone, just let me know. For anything. Could be reading or napping, whatever.”

Catra acknowledges that with a hum. “‘kay. You too or whatever.”

They wrap up in silence. When Adora is in the closet later trying to find clothes that will fit her houseguest or mate or whatever, Catra hunts down the basket of used laundry and selects one of Adora’s virtually-spotless “dirty” shirts to wear. Adora tosses her a pair of grey leggings that are a bit too small for the blonde but only raises an eyebrow in question.

Catra shrugs. “Shirt smells like you already. Bite thing?”

Adora nods, returning to retrieving clothes. “Probably a bite thing. Do you need...underclothes?”

“You know I don’t wear those.”

Somewhere in the closet, Adora falls over.

Breakfast is easy enough. Adora’s right that no one’s around. Without an audience of princesses, she and Catra eat straight out of the serving platters with their bare hands, shoveling food into their mouths until they’re nearly sick. Adora’s excited to ask Catra if she’s had every single dish before and how she’d rate all the new ones. She wants to hear which are Catra’s favorites and what combinations of foods she thinks are the best. Catra in turn mocks all of Adora’s picks. 

Against her will, Catra doesn’t totally hate spending this time with Adora. It almost feels like they’re kids again, sneaking off to find something fun to do together. She tries smushing some kind of fruit into Adora’s perfect hair just to ruin it. Adora isn’t amused but she’s wrong cause Catra finds herself hilarious. Adora’s retaliation is to try to get some kind of awful sticky syrup into Catra’s fur, which she knows will be hell to wash out. This act of disrespect escalates into a small food fight that the kitchen staff deeply disapprove of.

They're having a pretty good time wasting Bright Moon’s resources. Or they _were_ , right up until Catra’s ears pick up Scorpia’s voice somewhere in the hall. She knew her former Force Captain/best friend was in the castle but hadn’t quite grasped the full reality of that yet.

Catra can hear Adora asking if she’s okay but it sounds very far away. Her mind is too preoccupied by playing out what a disaster an encounter with Scorpia could be.

Catra knows how to apologize now. She's gotten good practice with Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie, having to make amends for the way she ran them ragged during the war. How she berated them for not doing enough even as they pushed themselves to the limit. She gave them good assignments when she became Commander, sure, but she's also said the words “I’m sorry” and reminds herself to say it whenever she fucks up.

It is somehow different with Scorpia and Entrapta, the pain she caused them so feeling so much more searing and destructive. No one, not even Adora, has been as patient with her as Scorpia was and Catra threw that away. Entrapta literally saved her life when she intervened to keep Catra from being sent to Beast Island and Catra turned around and shipped Entrapta there herself.

What the fuck was she supposed to say to them?

“I have to…” Catra mumbles to Adora’s concerned face, before vaguely pointing outside the dining room towards the garden. 

She’s on all fours and bounding out of the room before she can even finish her own sentence. This is stupid because she knows nothing about Bright Moon, everyone there hates her, and Adora is trying to yell something after her. 

Once she reaches the garden, Catra takes a sharp right. In the distance, there’s a giant tower with a bell that she can’t imagine anyone ever needs to use. Scaling it is pretty satisfying, the way her claws feel digging into the stone. Being able to focus on her body keeps her out of her own head for a short while.

When she reaches the top, she takes some comfort in glancing down at the hugeness of Bright Moon. Catra’s only one small disaster there, amidst a sea of much larger ones. The space and the perspective help her start to get her heart to slow down a bit at least.

Her solitude lasts a few short minutes before she hears footsteps.

Without a glance back, she observes, “You’ve gotten a lot better at climbing.”

“ _Have I_?” Entrapta’s sharp voice asks and Catra nearly jumps out of her fur. 

She yelps, falling backwards onto her ass. Sure as shit, there’s Entrapta of all people, one tendril of long, purple hair holding up an antenna, another holding her recorder, and two more attempting to lift her off the ground up towards the very peak of the tower.

Catra imagines that only she would have bad enough luck to run away from one problem like a coward and leap straight into another.

“Were you not expecting to see me?” Entrapta continues. “You spoke. Oh! Were you expecting Adora? I’m assuming, based on your show of complete trust and previous lack of concern at another human presence.”

“Hi, Entrapta.” Best to ignore the ‘complete trust’ comment.

“Catra.” It’s the most reserved tone that Catra’s heard her use.

Okay, this is a sign or something probably, Catra thinks, running into the princess. She considers the best route here. 

“Whatcha working on?”

Entrapta brightens a bit. “Communications! I’ve upgraded Bow’s tracker pad technology.” 

Entrapta loses Catra a bit as she begins to give entirely too many details about the inner workings of this tech. Catra tunes back in as Entrapta explains that the pads now have more enhanced options for communicating, along with access to a lot of research and history that she’s made available to everyone. 

“Adora has asked me to create a link to your second-in-command. If you come by my lab later, we can easily accomplish that! I just have to hack into your Horde communications system.”

Catra can feel herself getting angry at that last sentence so she takes a deep breath. It’s a good idea to tread lightly in this situation.

“Entrapta? You haven’t done that before, have you?”

“Hacked into the Horde? No, not since leaving.”

“Good. You can’t-”, she pauses. Regroups. “I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but could you maybe not let the Rebellion know that you can do that? It could get a lot of people hurt.”

Entrapta pauses. “I suppose I don’t need to divulge the specific way that I’m connecting you to the Horde.”

Catra breathes a sigh of relief. “I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

Entrapta’s hair begins to lift her up again.

“Actually, could I say something else?” 

Entrapta pauses in wait. Catra lowers her eyes to the ground. She can do this. She owes Entrapta much more than this. 

“Sorry I was a real piece of shit to you.” She immediately regrets not just saying what she means directly and hopes this isn’t more confusing, based on how she’s noticed that Entrapta receives information. 

“I mean, I’m sorry I was...bad to you. I yelled a lot. I was rude. I didn’t listen about the portal and nearly destroyed everything. I’m sorry I attacked you and about Beast Island and all that.” Catra should probably go on but she’s already so overwhelmed that she just droops her shoulders and keeps her eyes trained on the stonework.

Entrapta lowers herself by her hair so she’s staring directly into Catra’s eyes. “The Alliance says you’re evil. Based on my available data, that is likely true. Adora and Scorpia say you’re scared and hurt. Perfuma’s working hypothesis centers around a traumatic upbringing and lack of positive reinforcement during your primary adolescence.”

Catra heaves a dark chuckle. There go the princesses trying to analyze her _feelings_ or whatever. Like, that all sounds like it could be something true but it’s strange to hear coming from someone else. She doesn’t even know Perfuma like that.

“I’ve done a lot of research on the theory of nature versus nurture,” Entrapta continues. “I generally shy away from philosophical treatises, but –”

“You’re losing me a bit here. We’re not all geniuses like you.” Catra hopes her tone comes out patient.

Entrapta regards her for a second. “Are you still evil?”

What a fucking question. Entrapta doesn’t lie so it would be unfair to say anything untrue if Catra’s really trying to make things better with her.

Catra shrugs. “Results are inconclusive,” she attempts to joke in Entrapta-speak. When that gets no response, she amends, “Uh, that was never really the vibe I was going for. More like...righteous vengeance or whatever.”

Entrapta just gives a ‘hmm’ in response and types something down into a tracker pad that definitely was not visible in her hair even a minute ago. 

“Okay. I accept your apology,” she says like it’s nothing. 

Catra didn’t expect her to throw a fit or cry or fight or anything but...actually, maybe this is exactly what she should have expected. Before, when they were something resembling 'friends', she had destroyed plenty of Entrapta’s tech in a rage, making it up later to Entrapta by silently bringing her tiny snacks from her travels. The princess had usually forgotten completely about the transgression by then.

The easy forgiveness is a bit overwhelming but Entrapta isn’t going to let Catra stew in it. She’s already starting to move again so Catra should probably just follow her lead.

“Okay. Cool. Um...do you need a lab partner or whatever? To help with this?”

Entrapta goddamn _squeals_ in joy. “Yesss! I’ve tried getting other people to help with the antennas and the results have been disappointing. No one else has your coordination, agility, balance, and climbing ability. Adora would have been an acceptable, though not ideal, partner but her coordination is highly lacking.”

Catra thinks of Adora falling over in the closet that morning just because she wasn’t wearing a bra and laughs.

“Well, just point me where you need me.”

Catra spends the next couple of hours following Entrapta to all of the towers in Bright Moon, climbing all over them like gargoyles. Entrapta asks all sorts of questions about the Horde’s current tech and Catra does her best to answer them without giving too much intel away. She reminds Entrapta a few times that this is in the interest of science, not espionage. 

Entrapta even does her a solid by contacting Adora and letting her know that Catra is safe (or as safe as one can be, hanging several stories in the air next to someone they tried to kill once). The princess uses that opportunity to babble about the false concept of “evil” but Adora pretends to be very busy and hangs up as soon as she asks Entrapta to take care of her ‘mate’. That turns out to either be a horrible slip or an extremely clever power move by Adora.

Entrapta, hanging from the side of a parapet with only one of her ponytails, lifts a recorder up towards where Catra is gripping a weathervane with her foot claws and angling up towards the sky with one of the antennas. 

“Can you explain the nature of you and Adora _mating_ , particularly the physical, emotional, and reproductive aspects?”

“ _What_?!” Catra hisses and all of her limbs decide to stop functioning simultaneously. 

Her grip on the weathervane slips immediately and she’s not able to establish a foothold on anything else before she begins her descent towards the very, very far away ground. Entrapta grabs the antenna but doesn’t bother to reach for _Catra_ , which, she notes, is pretty fair. 

As she’s falling, multiple stories and rooms of Bright Moon flashing by quickly, she tries to right herself and brace for impact. Don’t panic. Look, here’s another way that the princesses could kill you, though they’d never be sloppy enough to send Entrapta. At least, Catra doesn’t _think_ so.

She lands in the garden on her feet, the impact so loud that all the nearby birds immediately flee. With so much force, she can’t stop her momentum though and tumbles onto her ass. For the second time today, thanks to Entrapta.

“Oh my. Are you okay?” Catra glances over at the flower princess speaking to her. 

She looks genuinely worried and Catra’s pretty sure she broke her tailbone so she just gives a lazy thumbs up. She glances behind her to confirm that her tail itself is still intact.

Around the flower princess, the whole goddamn Rebellion begins to file out. Catra’s landing spot is, of course, directly in front of the doors of their war room. She avoids Scorpia's face as best she can. 

She locks eyes with Adora, who’s already pushing everyone out of the way to run to Catra’s aid. Catra just motions for her to stop, before flopping the rest of her body down into the grass.

“Was that not a good time?” Entrapta asks. Catra can see her finishing a graceful descent down the castle walls.

“Nope, not really,” Catra returns. “But it’s fine. Remember that talk we had about surprises?”

“Yes, I recall that.” Entrapta lifts her recorder to her mouth. “Subject ‘Catra’ does not like being surprised or, as she has phrased it, _ambushed_ by personal or intimate questions. Note that subject includes her _mating_ _practices_ , and their emotional, physical, and reproductive aspects, as one of these questions.” 

Catra’s only data on those three aspects is that they all deeply overwhelm her; she’s not sure which is the most potentially horrifying yet.

The previously-blessedly quiet Rebellion crowd now thinks this is a good time to laugh and whisper among themselves.

Catra looks to Spinnerella and Perfuma. They seem like safe choices. 

“Does she not ask you wildly personal questions like that?”

Netossa, who’s probably having too much fun with this, answers instead. “Gods, no. Though she’s tried to take ‘samples’ of my nets plenty of times. There’s plenty of books and scrolls on queerness and lesbians.”

Entrapta adds, “And that’s all uploaded to the tracker pads!”

Huh. Forget talking to Lonnie. Catra has a lot of ideas of how she could best use Entrapta’s little comms device now. Visuals of some of the stuff she’s been imagining lately (unrelated to anything in particular!) would be very...useful. _Educational_.

Suddenly feeling a lot better, Catra finally sits up to address Entrapta. “Remember, you promised to give me one of those. I need to make sure Lonnie’s okay.”

“I don’t know who that is,” Entrapta responds.

“Lonnie. ‘Bout my height, intense, locs, biceps for days?” Somewhere in the crowd, Adora straight up _squawks_. “You worked with her for two years.”

Entrapta considers this for a moment. She somehow settles on the flat response, “It’s not work if you love doing it.”

It’s now a crowd of blank faces.

“That was a joke...about how horrible the Horde working conditions were before you became Commander. I was attempting sarcasm.”

Catra laughs. She’s not placating Entrapta. It’s almost funny if you imagine the joke delivered differently, except the delivery is what really sells it? You kinda have to be there to get it, probably. Maybe the life-threatening fall knocked something loose but here Catra was, in Bright Moon’s garden laughing at a terrible attempt at humor, while the princesses were frozen in confusion.

“Good one, ‘Trapta. Come on, let's finish your experiment so you don't accidentally push anyone else off the roof.” Catra lifts herself up and follows Entrapta back up the side of the castle.

Catra's ears swivel to pick up the droll tone of the water princess. “So now they’re just friends or whatever again? I don’t get it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do the showers at Bright Moon have so many showerheads? I decided that it's more efficient for couples and also that they're super into intimacy like that, maybe? I thought I had invented this and then googled "double shower" and it's totally a wholeass thing already. so TIL or whatever. That brief moment when you think you've invented a very lucrative idea and immediately have that crushed is a real rollercoaster.
> 
> Anyway, can I interest you in a chapter 4 preview? Lonnie returns! Catra acts like a cat. Bow is the best. Adora and Catra figure some things out...


	4. Difference Between Pain and Harm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra cackles. “Adora, no! Use your ‘sexy’ voice, dummy.”
> 
> “I don't have a ‘sexy’ voice, Catra,” Adora responds dryly.
> 
> “You really do,” Catra arches off the bed again, unconsciously grinding her hips into the mattress at the thought of Adora’s raspy tone. “You just made me ruin these pants two seconds ago. Use that voice. And call me names. Try again.” Catra smirks.
> 
> Bow and Sea Hawk play with flames; Catra and Adora play with pain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so the lower-third of this chapter is straight up explicit. Starts with discussion of Adora's 'sexy' voice and ends before the phrase "Adora comes back with clean sleepwear" if you need to skip. Catra's a cat so that...comes up...
> 
> Anyway, Lonnie returns! Just a smidge of Mermista! I always felt like post-canon Bow and Catra would be friends, since he’s kinda a blend of Scorpia and Entrapta in some ways, so here’s the start of cute times together.
> 
> Digging this? A couple days ago, I posted a New Years' Eve fake dating one-shot, [Midnight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28356651). It's set in modern times and they're in college but Catra is still a cat.

Antennas having been fully...tested? Catra’s not actually sure what she and Entrapta were doing, but whatever, it’s done and Entrapta leads her back to the lab. Entrapta’s “lab” is very clearly a random storage room and Catra doesn’t really believe that Queen Shimmer even knows that Entrapta’s commandeered the space.

Catra leans back in a chair, feet up on a workstation, while Entrapta does seemingly random, and usually unrelated, tasks for a while. If Scorpia were there, it would feel a lot like being back in the Fright Zone. 

Catra had inquired why Entrapta wasn’t in the princess meeting, only to be told that there’s “no new data”, that Entrapta’s already made up her mind anyway, that she doesn’t believe it’s their place to make these decisions but no one listens, and that she sends Emily, her bot, as her proxy so the meeting can be transmitted back to Entrapta. She’s apparently been wearing an earpiece this entire time and half listening to the meeting while working with Catra. Entrapta demonstrates this by playing the audio on speaker, which Catra is fairly certain that the Alliance would not approve of.

She’s able to catch the tail end of a rather interesting conversation though.

Glimmer’s voice comes through from speakers that Catra can’t actually locate anywhere in the room. “ _Look, Adora, we all have eyes and ears. We knew you were obsessed with Catra. We just thought it was a childhood friend thing, not a…_ ”

“ _Rough and dirty sex thing_ ,” Mermista interrupts. Catra coughs awkwardly but Entrapta doesn’t seem to notice or care.

Emily’s transmission is clear enough to pick up the sound of Adora sputtering and floundering.

“ _Marriage thing_ ,” Bow says instead.

“ _It’s-it is not a...there’s nothing rough or dirty!_ ” Adora is screeching and Catra can just picture her bright red face and frantic eyes.

“ _Have you_ seen _that big ass hickey on your neck?!?_ ” Mermista is not _wrong_ , but she is wrong. 

‘Rough and dirty’ will probably be kicking around in Catra’s head for at least the next few hours though. Days, even.

Here, Entrapta decides to cut out the transmission. Catra watches her face as she listens to the rest of the conversation through her ear piece but she gives nothing away. If Catra had anything to her name, she’d barter all of it to hear what Adora’s thoughts are on all things rough and dirty. Maybe not from Entrapta though. That would be weird.

‘Obsessed with Catra’, huh?

Entrapta gives Catra her own tracker pad after they have a long conversation about how the princess is not allowed to keep any information about what Catra researches. Catra is forced to promise that it’s not evil, just private. 

Entrapta is kind enough to add a map of the castle to Catra’s pad so the Commander hops up into the vents and makes her way back to Adora’s room. She only makes a few stops to peek into other rooms and check out what others are up to. It’s mostly not very interesting – peace is boring.

By the time Catra mozies back to the room, Adora is already there. She doesn’t hear Catra enter, pacing back and forth across the room, muttering to herself. Adora looks tense but not ‘I just fought with my friends’ tense. More like ‘working out my thoughts’ tense. Catra assumes that’s kinda better.

“ _Hey_ , Adora,” Catra greets quietly when she gets a bit closer.

Adora stops mid-step and grins. “Hey, you.” Then she’s practically running up to Catra to close the remaining distance. About a foot away, she seems to give this a second thought and stops. It looks like a thought strikes Adora and she frowns suddenly.

“‘Sup with you?” Catra asks, trying to coat the words with indifference. 

Adora gets a bit shy. “Nothing,” she responds quickly. “How are you? That was a nasty fall.”

“Meh. Everyday is a potentially life-threatening adventure when you’re with Entrapta. Is that why you’re making a groove in the marble?”

Adora glances back to where she was pacing as if she thinks that’s really possible. 

“No. Partially?” She shrugs. It’s not yesterday’s weirdly charming, devil-may-care shrug. The adrenaline’s maybe worn off and she’s returned to Etheria. “I _was_ really worried. I almost threw Bow across the room to get to you.” 

Catra laughs at that. Adora looks put out by the teasing. 

“It’s not funny, Catra. I’ve never –” She stops. Then almost to herself, “I should make a list. Lists are good.”

Adora heads over to her little desk, picks up a pencil, and begins writing in deeply focused silence. Catra’s not sure where she fits in all this but she’s never enjoyed Adora paying attention to things that aren’t her. She slinks over to the desk. It’s cute and very Adora. The writing instruments are all organized by type, the scrolls sit neatly in one place, papers are neatly stacked. 

Catra turns and hops up onto the desk, butt-first, with her back to Adora. Scrolls go flying onto the floor.

“Catra, _why_?!” But Adora’s still too busy writing to pick up anything. 

Without turning around, Catra shrugs. She hears the pencil continue against the paper, writing frantically. 

Catra reaches for the stack of papers next.

“Don’t you dare,” Adora grits out through her teeth.

“Don’t you want to hear about my day?” Catra innocently asks.

“Of course! Just...let me finish first.”

Ignoring that, Catra begins explaining what she and Entrapta got up to. Adora continues to write. 

“And then, you know, she nearly caused my untimely death by asking about – what did she say? – our emotional, physical, and reproductive mating practices.”

Catra hears the pencil snap in two. She keeps facing away to hide her smile.

“Any thoughts on that?” Catra questions casually.

Adora just groans lowly and reaches for a new pencil. With a flick of the wrist, Catra scatters all the writing tools off the desk before Adora can get her hands on them. Adora is on her feet in an instant.

To Catra’s shock, and possible pleasure?, Adora grabs her by the waist and pulls her even further onto the desk, straining Catra to turn and face her. Adora looks somewhere between panicked and feral, her grip on Catra’s hips digging in hard. 

“I almost shotputted Bow and then there’s Lonnie’s stupid _biceps_ and don’t even get me started on _fucking Mermista_ ! There’s a lot of new things happening and I just need to make a _list_! It’s only been 24 hours – I don’t know how I’m going to put up with this for the next few months!”

Something in Catra’s mouth sours. She manages to wrench herself out of Adora’s lock and hop down from the desk. 

“Sorry. I didn’t realize ‘putting up’ with me was so terrible. Maybe you should have considered that before you _fucked_ me. This was _your_ idea, remember?”

Adora scrambles to put a little more distance between them. “I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant! Just –”

But Catra is already heading towards the door. “Just finish your stupid list.”

She’d...miscalculated. Catra had thought Adora was enjoying this. Maybe that was too strong of a word. But Adora had been smiling and being nice to her and it felt almost kinda good. Did it not feel good for Adora? 

Catra realizes it was probably naive to think that Adora, perfect Adora, wanted to get close to the fucking Horde Commander. But this was all Adora’s idea in the first place! _She_ had roped Catra in! Adora was bored and just felt sorry for Catra. Now she had this new exciting mission to keep Catra safe and out of a cell. 

That didn’t mean she actually had any need for _Catra_ herself. Adora never did.

“Um, hi?” a voice squeaks out.

Catra looks up to see Boy standing in the middle of the hall. It’s just him alone, thankfully. Glancing around, Catra’s notices that she’s not sure where in Bright Moon she is and she doesn’t really remember walking here.

“Are you okay?” Boy asks, drawing her attention back to him.

“I’m fine,” Catra growls lowly. It’s a warning.

He just smiles slightly and raises his hands in a placating way. “You’re crying. Just wanted to check in.”

Catra feels her face and he's correct, the fur there is damp. She tries to use the bottom of her shirt to clean herself up a little. One glance at it reminds her that this is _Adora's_ shirt and Catra is deeply aware of her scent all over it for the first time since this morning. She thinks of the rejection that she's just experienced from her mate and feels herself teetering closely to a pit of infinite despair. Catra must be crying again because Arrow is looking even more concerned now.

“Adora's right,” she gets out through snot. “This is the worst!”

“What is?” he asks gently.

There's no way to explain that hormones or some shit seem to be driving them both crazy without giving away the whole ruse or, _worse_ , being even more vulnerable in front of this idiot. So Catra just waves her arm around vaguely.

“Everything.”

Bow smiles again. “I can imagine that. Lots of changes happening. Lots of big decisions being made without you. That's probably really overwhelming.” 

Yeah, just like Adora said.

When it becomes apparent that Catra’s not going to respond, Bow carefully moves a little closer. 

“Do you think I could show you what I do when I’m upset sometimes? It might be a good distraction.”

“I don’t want to shoot arrows,” Catra responds quickly. She doesn't know why. She’s got nothing against arrows really and she’s never tried. Reflex with the Rebellion.

“Okay,” he says with a shrug. Then he smirks a bit. “What if the arrows were _flaming_?”

Bow is a God. The arrows are made out of some weird super safe and very controlled chemical so the fire doesn’t get out of hand, but it’s still thrilling as all hell to Catra. She’s never used a bow before, but he manages to teach her in a way that’s not really condescending at all. He doesn’t treat her like a child or an enemy or an animal to be feared. She only once or twice thinks of kidnapping him and keeping him in the Fright Zone. He’d like Kyle, she figures, and if/when Adora returns, Bow can keep her company. 

Except, Catra reminds herself, Adora is absolutely not allowed to return because _revenge_!

They use a part of the grounds that she’s never been to before to shoot dummy targets. Catra spends a good while very worried about cutting the string with her claws, while pretending to be angry at Bow for “forcing” her to do this. He just laughs and tells her stories about ancient weaponry he’s read about or some of the definitely useless trick arrows he has. One is a nail file. Bow lets her make fun of him about that without taking it too seriously and they laugh like they aren’t two people who have previously held each other hostage before.

After the hallway, Bow never asks her again if she’s okay. He doesn’t bring up feelings or the war at all.

There are others who occasionally come through this part of the grounds, but they give Bow and Catra a very wide berth, either because of the fire or the Horde Commander. 

This is not true, of course, for Sea Hawk. 

The absolute maniac appears out of nowhere with _his own_ flaming arrow, begging for a turn. As far as Catra can tell, his “arrow” is just a molotov cocktail on a stick. It’s extinguished pretty quickly by a suspicious wave of water that appears seemingly out of nowhere. Unphased, Sea Hawk begins to sing a shanty about new friends, until he’s doused with another wave.

They don’t stop until the night-moons are starting to get high in the sky and Catra’s hands are beginning to callous. She didn’t think it had been that long since she did manual labor and admonishes herself internally for getting soft.

Bow looks sad when he tells Catra that he and Sea Hawk have to get to dinner. He very gently reminds her that the dining hall is open to everyone. And also, that he’s always around if she ever needs some shooting practice.

Catra returns to one of the towers that Entrapta has shown her earlier in the day. When she calls Lonnie, she expects relief, at least. Lonnie just looks bored.

“Oh, hey, Commander.” Lonnie isn’t even looking at the goddamn screen. “How’s married life?”

“You don’t have to pretend, Lon. I know you’re falling apart without me.”

Lonnie scoffs. “After I burned the desk that you and Adora fucked on, it’s been pretty smooth sailing.” She waggles her eyebrows suggestively. “How is Adora? Y’all making up for lost time?”

Catra rolls her eyes. “Can you focus? Please? How’s morale?”

“Meh. Hard to tell. Every asshole that was looking for an excuse to fight already is suddenly super loyal to you and wants to know the battle plan. Kyle’s having a fucking conniption. Everyone else just wants to know what the hell is happening.”

Catra sighs. “Them and me both. The princesses are too busy bickering to figure out what their end game is.”

Lonnie nods, before shooting her a look. “And you’re...committed to staying there and seeing this out?” 

“Well, I’m not leading them back to the Fright Zone. I’d like to keep Horde casualties to just _one_.” Catra pauses. It's probably a good idea to make sure that one thing is explicitly clear between them. “Acting Commander, regardless of what happens, I’m ordering you to not attempt a rescue mission. Do you understand?”

Lonnie just laughs. “Good thing I don’t recognize your authority anymore, _princess_. We’ll do what we have to do when the time comes.” 

Catra has really been trying to ignore that she is now technically a princess due to technically being married to one. She’s also been trying to ignore that she is now technically married. Fuck Lonnie for ruining that.

“Can you just listen to me for once?!” Catra’s going to _kill_ Lonnie if she dies trying to save her life.

“No one wants your self-sacrificing bullshit, Cat. ‘Poor me. I’m so worthless. All I do is hurt people. I’m not worth saving’.” That was a very disrespectful impression of Catra, little fake paws in the air, intense frown, raspy voice and all. Lonnie’s enjoying the distance between them a little too much, Catra thinks. “Boo fucking hoo. I’ll save whoever I want to save, including your furball ass. You’re not my boss anymore.”

“I should have fired you years ago,” Catra replies dryly.

“Good. That would have saved me from hearing Adora top you in the middle of an attack. What if I had died in battle and that was my last memory?!” Maybe Catra hadn’t muffled Adora as well as she’d intended to.

“Hey, _I_ to–”, Catra stops with a long-suffering sigh. “Not important. Anything else I need to know?”

“Not really. At least, not nothing I’d tell you unless I was 100% certain this line was secure and encrypted.”

Catra nods. That’s smart. Catra’s pretty sure that Entrapta didn’t try anything but knows Bow and others also have enough tech skills to probably figure out how to tap the line.

“How are you?” Lonnie asks. It almost sounds genuine and Catra wants to mock her for being a sap. But they’re not yelling at each right now so it’s probably best to keep the peace for a short time.

“Not the place I would have chosen for a vacation but it’s better than the Northern Reach, I guess. I’d give it 2 out of 5 stars?”

“And everything with Adora? You okay with being her surprise child bride? Real talk – this is all fucking weird. Can’t exactly say it came completely out of nowhere though, ya know?”

‘Okay’? No. Coming around to understanding why Adora did this? Yes. Prepared to talk about it ever, especially since she’d have to explain everything to Lonnie when she doesn’t even fully know how to feel herself? Probably not. 

“White people are out of control. What did we expect,” Catra shrugs. “I’m getting used to it. I’ll just hold it over her for the rest of her life. In the meantime, I’ll settle for terrorizing her until she realizes what she signed up for.”

Lonnie chuckles. “I swear, you had better know what you’re doing.”

“I do.” It’s a lie. They both know it. It’s comforting to say at least.

“What do you need me to send over? I’m assuming they won’t turn away a satchel of clothes, since you’re supposedly not a prisoner and everything.”

Catra hadn’t thought about that. Her own clothes would be cool. But then Adora would know that Catra _wanted_ to steal her shirts. And Catra wouldn’t be able to hide it from herself.

“Formal uniforms, definitely.” 

Yes, that’s a good choice. ‘Stupid Lonnie only sent over my Commander uniform. I obviously can’t wear this. I’ll just have to borrow your shirt again.’ She thinks she could pull off saying that with a straight face. She then somehow imagines herself tripping in the garden and Adora having to pick her up and carry her to their room.

“Yo, I’m still here!” Lonnie interrupts. “Is daydreaming contagious there?”

“Formal uniforms,” Catra repeats as if that didn’t just happen. “You know, trial and all.” She can’t think of a single other thing from there that she could want. That’s probably not a good sign.

Lonnie jumps in to save her. “I’ll pack some other shit. Don’t worry about it.”

“Great.”

When they’re silent for a few moments, Catra opens her mouth to sign off.

“Hey,” Lonnie’s voice has never been this soft. “How’s Scorpia?”

“Uhhhhhh. I haven’t seen her yet. Big castle. Haven't been here long.”

Lonnie isn’t a fool, unfortunately. “You dumb ass. I hope you smarten up and talk to her soon. She’s a real one.”

“Entrapta says hi,” Catra offers.

Lonnie looks skeptical. “Entrapta doesn’t know my name. She called everyone here ‘Kyle’ for two years. Well, usually it was ‘Subject Kyle’ but same thing.” 

Catra laughs. She’s kinda nostalgic for a simpler time when her worst problems were figuring out how to avoid being suffocated by Hordak and blown up by Entrapta.

“I’ll let you go play Commander now,” Catra says. “But hey, listen – take care of yourself?”

“That’s Rogelio and Kyle’s job. We’ll keep things on lock here. Let me know when you have an update. About their decision or when you let She-Ra hit.”

Catra hangs up in her face. Not even intentionally, she just can no longer control her own hands after hearing those words. Doing... _things_ with She-Ra wasn’t something that had truly crossed her mind as a possibility. Maybe a fleeting thought every once in a while over the past couple years. Thank the Gods that She-Ra doesn’t exist anymore. She’s more than Catra can handle right now. In more ways than one.

After a stealth trip to the kitchen to steal as much food as she can (and stick her unwashed claws in all the serving dishes), Catra returns to Adora’s room. When they were younger and had a fight, Adora always followed Catra to make up. But Adora’s in the bathroom now and Catra didn’t make herself particularly hard to find.

She glances at Adora’s desk. The list is there. Adora has truly atrocious handwriting so reading the list would have to involve a heavy amount of intent. Catra decides to not intrude for once. Her thoughts are complicated enough; adding Adora’s might be catastrophic.

After a day spent climbing and crawling around vents, a shower would be nice. Catra isn’t sure if it’s a bad idea to join Adora after the way things ended earlier. She doesn’t have to think about it long though cause her deliberation is interrupted by Adora. In the shower. Moaning. Loudly.

It’s probably not actually loud, but to Catra’s sensitive ears, she might as well be _shouting_. It’s a lovely sound, really. A lot more gentle and less frantic than how Adora was in Catra’s sanctum, on top of her desk. Between the memory and Adora’s moans, Catra’s stomach feels like someone just stabbed her but, like, in a good way? The pressure a little further down though is so intense that it almost hurts.

There’s another moan. Adora’s voice is quiet and a little more guttural. Catra’s feet begin taking her unconsciously towards the bathroom door. Adora gives a sharp gasp that could either be considered cute or life-altering. Then the shower shuts off. 

Catra launches herself across the room and into the bed with one leap. Play it cool. Adora always underestimates Catra’s hearing. It’ll be fine.

What would a cool person do?! Catra settles for flopping onto her stomach and pretending to be researching something on her tracker pad. She can’t think of any words right now except ‘lesbians’ and ‘mating’, though. _What are other words_?! She eventually comes up with ‘archery’ and types it in just as Adora exits the bathroom. 

Catra doesn’t look at her because that feels like an impossible task right now. It occurs to her way too late that she should have pretended to be asleep. But she’s lying in Adora’s place in the bed so Adora would have had to sleep next to her. And the scent of Adora’s arousal definitely is wafting in from the bathroom now so all thought capabilities cease.

“Hi,” Adora says softly.

“Hi,” Catra manages to whisper. She hears Adora pad over to her and sit down on the bed.

“Can I say something?” Catra nods but still can’t bring herself to look away from the pad so Adora continues. “I’m sorry about earlier. I think the stress got to me. I want you to be here. I’m sorry for ever making you feel like I didn’t. Both, today and all the times before.”

Catra chances a glance at Adora, her cheeks flushed, eyes wet, and smile soft and earnest.

“My bad for knocking your shit all over the floor,” Catra mumbles. She deserves a prize for not only being able to function at all right now but also more or less apologizing for something.

Adora shrugs with a grin. “I knew the risk I was taking by bringing an untrained cat in here.”

Catra scoffs. “Cats can’t be trained.” 

She puts down the tracker pad and rolls over onto her back to languidly stretch, lifting her arms above her head and arching her back off of the mattress. It gives her a moment to regroup. 

When she’s done, she looks back at Adora who’s too busy raking her eyes down Catra’s body to respond. Catra doesn’t think the idiot even notices when she licks her lips unconsciously, nearly gaping. Catra can’t think of an encore performance – there’s no way to naturally work in her ability to put her legs behind her head or anything.

“Feeling dirty?”

“Huh?” Adora asks, rushing to meet Catra’s eyes, flushing more deeply.

“Late night shower.”

“Oh!” Gods, she’s getting even redder, which doesn’t seem humanly possible. “I did a bit of training. Worked up a sweat.”

Catra’s not sure why but her mouth goes dry at the word ‘sweat’. She already knows which of Adora’s shirts she’ll be wearing tomorrow.

“I heard you trained with Bow,” Adora says, smartly navigating them out of these dangerous waters. “And I forgot to say something about you and Entrapta earlier. I’m really proud of you, Catra. Making new friends and fixing things with Entrapta.”

Making new friends or securing strong allies? Eh, same difference if you squint.

“Yeah, ‘Trapta and I kissed and made up.”

A low rumble comes out of Adora’s throat, before she stops it immediately. “That’s great,” she squeaks out.

Catra purses her lips for a second to hide her smile. “Do you want to tell me about your list?”

Adora looks mortified, like Catra just asked if she could tear off her toenails or something. 

“No, I don’t want to...confuse you or _pressure_ you or be a burden.” She stares down into her lap, breathing beginning to pick up a little too fast.

Catra pokes her in the side with a claw, right in her most ticklish spot. Adora yelps and nearly falls off the bed.

“Hey, dummy. It’s just me. Tell me or don’t.” Catra shrugs. “It’s your call. But don’t try to do me any favors by trying to spare me or whatever. We’re kinda in this together now.”

“It’s just...hard to tell what’s real and what’s from the bite. I don’t know if that even makes sense.”

Catra hums in agreement. She’s been kinda feeling the same thing so it’s almost comforting to hear it from Adora. Catra could tell a half-truth here. Make Adora feel comfortable enough to share. 

“After I walked out earlier,” she takes a short breath. “I mean, there’s probably been a hundred times before that you were busy or studying or training and couldn’t hang out with me but. I’ve never been so pissed off about it before.”

Adora’s face looks like her heart breaks a tiny bit. “Oh, kitten.” At Catra’s appalled face, she winces. “Sorry! I don’t know why I keep wanting to say that.”

“It’s not terrible,” Catra says. ‘I’m just going to flood these leggings’, she does not say. Adora’s biting her lip like she definitely heard it, though.

Adora starts to lie down. “Can I be close to you?” ‘ _Should_ I’ would be a better question. Catra nods anyway. 

The blonde relaxes on her side, facing Catra. “I really am sorry. For that and everything else.”

“What’s it like for you?” Adora’s too close for Catra to quite figure out how to phrase questions clearly. She motions towards the other girl’s neck.

Adora whispers so earnestly, “I want to do everything for you. Even worse than before.”

Catra remembers her thought from yesterday – Adora waiting on her hand and foot in penance. A shiver goes down her spine at the idea. It should be illegal for revenge to feel this pleasurable. 

Adora's already shifting away at the sight of Catra shivering.

She calls out, “That doesn't always mean I'm cold, dummy.”

Adora drops the blanket that's already found its way to her hand. Slowly, “Okay. What does it mean?”

“Sometimes, just... _interested_.”

Adora sits back down. 

Catra inches closer to her and whispers, accentuating each word purposefully, “You're going to have to ask me what I want.” 

It's Adora's turn to shiver now and Catra takes much pride in that.

Adora gulps before saying, very dumbly, “Yeah, King Micah told me communication is important.” To Catra's arched eyebrow, she answers, “He's the only person I know here who's been married.”

Catra smirks, imagining Adora trying to explain to another person that she's horny for the first time, using all the same nonsense language that she's been feeding Catra. At least, she _hopes_ that's what Adora's been struggling to say.

Catra's tail brushes Adora's hand. That thing suddenly got a mind of its own once they reached the castle. The blonde surprises her by catching it gently between her fingers and taking it into her warm palm. 

Her pets are so soft and her voice so smooth when she asks Catra, “What do you want?”

Catra closes her eyes, sighs, and just melts into the bed. She has no shame. Adora’s already seen her orgasm face – this can't be worse than that. That thought actually makes this all seem a lot less terrifying.

Before she can change her mind, Catra rushes out breathily, “Touch me again. Like yesterday.”

Adora stills. “But I–”

“You don't have to.” Catra tries to sound aloof. “But. If you want, I'm into whatever. Just tell me what you're going to do before you do it. I'll let you know if it's okay.” She hopes this makes sense cause she's definitely never had to have a conversation like this before in her life.

Adora just nods. She says, oddly robotically, “I'm going to flip you over now.”

Catra cackles. “Adora, no! Use your ‘sexy’ voice, dummy.”

“I don't have a ‘sexy’ voice, Catra,” Adora responds dryly.

“You really do,” Catra arches off the bed again, unconsciously grinding her hips into the mattress at the thought of Adora’s raspy tone. “You just made me ruin these pants two seconds ago. Use that voice. And call me names. Try again.” Catra smirks. 

What happened to the Adora who took her against her desk?

Adora clears her throat. She takes a moment to breathe and then she seems to catch sight of her hand still wrapped around Catra's tail. 

Without looking away, “Kitten,” comes out gravelly, “I want you to turn over for me.”

Catra thinks about saying ‘make me’ but she’ll take it easy on Adora. For now anyway. She’s not sure how to roll over in a sexy way so she does another long, languid stretch and softly tumbles onto her belly. Catra crosses her arms and leans her head onto them, facing Adora with a smirk.

Adora’s voice comes out breathy, almost a sigh. “Good.” 

She moves closer until her knees are nearly touching Catra’s side. Her pupils seem bigger than usual and Catra can just barely see how hard Adora’s nipples are through her sleep shirt. Catra finds herself pushing her hips into the bed again at the sight.

The blonde returns to petting the tail in her hand, her motions getting a bit bolder. Catra banned Adora from doing this when they were younger because the girl didn’t seem to know her own strength and wasn’t the most gentle about it. Now, though, she’s achingly tender as her fingertips stroke from base to tip, so slowly that Catra almost wants to scream.

“I’m going to move my hand a little further down now, kitten.” She doesn’t say where exactly, but Catra nods anyway when Adora’s eyes meet hers. 

The hand on her tail moves down to the base, gently rubbing through the leggings there. Catra can just barely feel Adora’s skin on her fur through the sloppy tiny hole that she clawed through the material to make room for her tail that morning.

The small amount of direct contact is _maddening_ , both too much and way too little. Catra arches at the waist, pushing back towards Adora’s hand to get more contact. Her arms uncross, extending up above her head to dig her claws into the pillows.

“Tell me what you want,” Adora damn near commands.

“More” is all Catra can think to say. Her pushes become more relentless.

“Stop,” Adora orders. If she thinks Catra has any control over her own hips right now, she’s very mistaken. She waits a moment, before adding, “Stop. Or I’ll have to hold you down.”

Catra gives a husky chuckle. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.” Her hips hit the mattress with a thud as Adora presses down, her hand flush against the base of Catra’s tail and her lower back. “Yes,” Catra hisses. 

That seems to spur Adora on because her hand gets a bit rougher. Catra tries testing if she can still arch up but Adora has her solidly pinned. She decides to glance back to catch sight of Adora’s arms straining to hold her down.

“I didn’t say you could watch.”

Catra has to bite her lip to hold back that moan that that drags out of her. She keeps her eyes on Adora’s face like ordered though. 

“Fuck, Adora. Who knew you were such a tease?”

“I learned from the best,” she quips. 

That’s fair. Catra _did_ spend a lot of their teenage years teasing and flirting, trying to get a reaction out of Adora. She’d hold eye contact too long, let her hand linger when it didn’t need to, undress a bit too slowly in the locker room, exaggerate the movement of her hips when walking by Adora. She thought Adora had just been oblivious.

“Thanks for finally noticing,” Catra mutters.

“Oh, I always noticed,” Adora says with a groan. Catra wonders what specifically Adora’s thinking about to solicit _that_ response. “Do you want me to touch your fur?” It is absolutely not said as a question, more like a demand. Catra nods quickly.

Adora’s hand migrates under the waistband of Catra’s leggings, returning to rub around the base of her tail. She can think of a couple places that she’d prefer Adora to be but once that hand begins to scratch firmly, she closes her eyes and loses herself under the attention. 

Adora’s right hand goes to her back, massaging up and down Catra’s spine before moving up to her neck. She wants to tilt her head back, direct Adora up more, but the gaze from those blue eyes is so intense that it locks her into place.

“What do you want, kitten?” Catra’s ears flicker. Yet another spot that Adora was barred from, being given up to her freely. For a second, Adora’s voice slips back into shy earnestness. “You sure?” 

Catra glances up to see Adora’s hand hovering tentatively near her ears. Adora looks excited but wary.

Catra tries to pull her most enticing look. She hopes it comes across as ‘fuck me’ and not ‘evil supervillain’, which her face sometimes defaults to. 

“You can touch me wherever,” she whispers. “You’re mine.” She makes sure not to say ‘I’m yours’ cause we can’t have Adora getting any silly ideas here.

Adora’s hand springs into action, rubbing beneath Catra’s ear in just the right spot and reducing her to a purring, drooling mess on the bed. Adora’s other hand begins practically digging into Catra’s fur. It’s going to bruise and Catra couldn’t be more delighted about that.

“Adora,” she rasps out. Change tactics, go for the heart. “ _Mate_ , you have to make me cum. You have to take care of me.” 

“I don’t take orders from you, _Commander_.” 

Catra slams her thighs shut, rubbing them together to try to get some relief. If Adora’s not going to do anything about this mess between her legs, Catra’s pretty sure she can get what she needs with enough persistence.

But Adora releases the hold on her back to jump behind her and pry her knees apart. This forces Catra to whine, high and needy, before Adora shoves her leg up against her cunt. 

“Fuck yes,” she hisses, claws fully extending into the mattress. She expects Adora to assist in some way but the princess just chuckles instead. 

Why does Catra have to do everything herself around here?

She arches her lower back slightly, angling for more pressure and begins grinding back into Adora. It doesn’t take long before Catra feels that familiar swirling sensation down below. She gasps and buries her face in the pillows.

“Nope, I want to hear you,” Adora grits out. 

Catra shakes her head. Can’t focus enough for that. Adora might as well be asking her to recite ancient Etherian history right now. 

Possibly sensing this, or just being a total sexy asshole, Adora strokes the base of her neck softly before grabbing a fistfull of Catra’s mane and pulling it hard enough to lift her face off the bed. The moan Catra lets out is probably loud enough to be heard across the castle.

Catra’s hips nearly double in speed. Her back hurts from thrusting back and her thighs are starting to shake but she can’t stop. 

“Can I cum please? _Please_ , Adora?” It’s a little degrading having to beg Adora for something but thinking that just makes Catra want it even more.

The hand not in her hair pauses briefly, before yanking her tail hard. 

“Yes, kitten.” 

Catra falls apart, shaking and mewling and nearly sobbing ‘thank you’ over and over until it turns into a whimper.

Adora gently lowers her back to the bed and covers Catra’s body with her own. The weight is superb, probably the only thing grounding her to Etheria right now. 

Now _Adora’s_ whispering ‘thank you’ and how Catra is a good kitten and how much Adora wants her and how amazing she was. When she’s finally done trembling through aftershocks, Adora moves off of her, saying she has to change for sleep.

Yeah, those leggings are _drenched_. Catra has to practically peel them off. The thigh on Adora’s sleep shorts is dark and wet too but she doesn’t seem to notice and Catra likes having her scent all over Adora. The princess politely looks away while Catra undresses, like she hasn’t given the girl the best two orgasms of her entire life, before excusing herself to grab something. 

Adora comes back with clean sleepwear and a large glass of water. Thank the Gods cause Catra’s pretty sure all the moisture in her body is still in those leggings.

Adora climbs into bed finally. Catra’s too blissed out and weak to move to the foot of the bed tonight so cuddling is obviously the only option. Just an unavoidable necessity at this point.

One strong arm wraps around Catra’s waist. “Did I hurt you?”

Voice dreamy, she sighs, “Yeah, it was perfect.” Adora freezes, like she’s about to go into a full panic. “Don’t worry, dummy. You didn’t do anything that I wasn’t literally begging for.”

It takes a few moments, but Adora lets that sink in. 

“I don’t want to hurt you ever again.” She sounds fragile, not the almighty She-Ra who spent years thrashing Catra.

“I think there’s a difference between pain and actual harm, ya know? Just aim for the first one and keep talking to me about it and we’ll be fine.”

“Do you want to hurt me?”

“Yes,” Catra murmurs. It’s true. Catra wants to. Feels like she’s entitled to, even. It’s probably best if she sort out the mess in her head before she puts her claws anywhere near Adora, just in case. 

She deflects, “I didn't know you had a cat thing.”

Adora chuckles quietly. “I think it’s a _you_ thing, kitten.” She seems to think for a bit. “It won’t be like that everytime, will it?” 

Catra, fading into sleep now, just gives a small “ _mrph?”_

“You won’t... _give_ yourself to me, I mean.”

Catra laughs, “Hell, no. I’ll fight and whine and probably get my way.”

“Honestly, that’s what I expected, Commander.” Catra can hear the fond smile in her voice. Adora fully gathers Catra in her arms, pressing her body to Catra’s back. She whispers close to Catra’s ear, “Thank you. I know that was your way of- of showing me…”

Catra would love Adora to finish that thought, elaborate on what she thinks she was being given. The possibilities seem like way too much though so Catra sighs and just lets Adora hold her even tighter as consciousness fades away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, people have made interesting choices without talking about their feelings so that def won't end in confusion. Right???
> 
> Chapter 5 preview - the third member of the Super Pal Trio is here! Glimmer brings some angst. George and Lance attempt to bring some reason.


	5. Friction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yeah, well the universe has tried to destroy me plenty of times so I guess we’re even now."
> 
> Glimmer and Catra don't get along; Scorpia and Catra do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me sprinkle just a little more angst on. also, George and Lance!

Over two weeks into her capture/marriage, Adora relays to Catra that the Alliance is no closer to making a decision. The lot of idiots still can’t figure out which piece of this political nightmare they want to argue about more: whether or not princess immunity can even extend to Adora; if Adora being a princess is transferable to Catra since they don’t even have kingdoms; or if Catra’s crimes extend beyond immunity. 

Adora doesn’t say anything about anyone questioning whether their marriage is real, which is odd, cause Catra imagines that’s the first thing she’d attack if she were them. People are a lot more interesting to break than laws. 

The Queen was now all up in arms, rushing around and bringing in scholars to help them sort out everything. Catra imagines Sparkles trying to strong arm a group of nerds into reinterpreting Bright Moon’s own legal system just to punish Catra.  _ Catra _ ! Just a little catgirl from such humble beginnings getting all this attention from the Queen herself. It was almost flattering.

So far, Catra’s days at the castle have not been bad. She has to convince Adora not to be at her side constantly, though she kinda enjoys how much Adora suddenly wants to be. Adora must never know this. She follows Entrapta around and sometimes helps. Naps in the day-moonlight. Trains with Adora. Allows Bow to entertain her. Yells at Sea Hawk. Avoids Scorpia and the other princesses. Eats everything she can get her hands on. Researches private things that are no one’s business.

At night time, there’s a lot of...friction. She and Adora spend a lot of time, fully clothed and just  _ grinding _ on each other. It’s how they end most sparring matches now too. Catra’s tried to suggest they remove their clothes (in bed at least) but that sends Adora into a bit of a panic each time. She even went so far as to try it in the shower one morning, but Adora slipped as soon as Catra approached and nearly cracked her skull. 

So this is fine, satisfying even, but Catra wonders if it’s safe to hope for more sometime soon. Adora’s hands never seem to go anywhere but her ears, hips, and tail. She’s getting a little bolder with her words but that’s about it. It’s a shame that talking is all Adora can think to do with her mouth.

They haven't even kissed. Catra isn’t sure if that’s weird. Mostly they just cuddle and throw the lower halves of their bodies at each other every time they’re alone. Adora usually waits for Catra to take the lead on whatever they’re doing, unless explicitly told otherwise, and Catra’s not sure that she’s ready for that kind of responsibility. 

Besides, kissing is weird. Mouths are weird. Particularly  _ Catra’s _ mouth, which has razor-sharp fangs. She still remembers Adora telling her that her tongue was rough after she licked the little blonde dummy once when they were kids. Adora proved it by licking Catra’s arm and it nearly blew her mind. Yet, one more way where Catra’s weird and different from everyone! Great! 

So, no, they will not be kissing. It’s fine! They’re doing lots of other cool stuff instead.

Catra has made a list of what she does and does not want from her time at Bright Moon. 

She does not want: to talk to Adora or anyone else about her feelings; to be murdered or banished unless it keeps the people under her command safe; to be friends with any of the princesses. 

She does want: more food, to avoid Sparkles forever, to sow chaos in the Rebellion, Adora to go down on her, to break Adora's heart by leaving at the end of this. 

Catra doesn't write this down because she's not a rube like Adora.

She rewinds a couple thoughts: Adora going down on her. Gods, she’d give Kyle’s left arm for that. A good part of the morning and early afternoon idly passes by her, imagining what Adora would look and sound like with her face buried between Catra’s thighs. That soft tongue. How godsdamn eager to please Adora is. 

Catra kinda sorta completely forgets that she’s lying sprawled out on the middle of the table in Bright Moon’s 2nd most formal dining hall, eating pastries off her own stomach.

At least, until the voices are about 20 feet away. Her ears swivel to pick up a bunch of talking moving steadily towards her. Princesses.  _ Fuck _ . If she stays around long enough to see if they’re coming into the dining room, it’ll already be too late. 

So Catra leaps from the table, grabs onto the wall,  _ lightly _ tearing a tapestry, and launches herself up into the rafters, which are made of actual gold and are very stupid. She tries to make herself small, crouching to hide behind a beam. She tries to take comfort in the fact that most people don’t look up. At worst, she can pretend that she fell asleep up here. Adora will back her u–

“Hi, Catra!” comes from entirely too close to her ear. 

She yelps then hisses, but it’s too wait for a warning. Her front claws aren’t on the beam anymore, startled straight up into the air and now she’s falling again.

“En-” Catra loudly lands on the ground on all fours, “-Trapta! Godsdamnit! Why are you always in my hiding places?”

“Why are you always hiding in my workspaces?” Entrapta returns, swinging herself down to the ground by her ponytails.

“What could you have possibly been working on up there?”

Entrapta seems to think for a moment. “Testing your reflexes and response to sudden stimuli?” 

Entrapta doesn’t look like she’s joking. Catra laughs anyway – being almost killed by Entrapta tends to make her hysterical. She notices that the scientist's eyes almost look amused now.

“Every time we see you someone’s trying to throw you to your death,” a voice breaks through. “Shouldn’t that be a sign to you?” 

Catra glances over and Glimmer’s glaring at her, hands on her hips. The rest of the idiot alliance is with her. 

Catra takes her sweet ass time quieting her laugh. 

“Nah, Sparkles, that’s just how Entrapta shows her affection.” She ignores Glitter and turns back to Entrapta. “What are you–”

“Excuse me,” Sparkles interrupts. “I’m speaking to you.”

“And I’m speaking Entrapta. Now, run along. You’re being very rude.” 

Catra could leave. She doesn’t actually want to be around them anyway. But she was here first so fuck this nerd. The rest of the alliance is just milling about, trying to act like they’re not here. Adora must not be with them, which is odd. That’s definitely where she said she’d spend the day.

“You’re not even supposed to be here,” Glimmer yells. She’s starting to get way too frustrated way too fast. Catra has not even truly  _ begun _ to be difficult.

“You got bouncers at the door?” Catra asks lazily. “There are no rules here, your majesty. I don’t understand how this place is still running, frankly.”

“At least it’s not the hellhole military prison  _ you _ live in!”

“Wow, ouch,” a large voice booms. “Talking about my home there.” Catra looks around (technically just slightly  _ above _ ) Glimmer to see Scorpia, rubbing the back of her neck and wincing slightly.

“Yes, the Fright Zone has its own unique qualities and is very meaningful to many people here, Glimmer,” Perfuma says gently. “It’s best not to disparage it. Why don’t you try asking if Catra would like to make time so the two of you can communicate what you’re actually upset about?”

“Like, away from here though,” Mermista drolls. “Because some of us are starving and already bored with this conversation.”

“Mermista! Some support please,” Glimmer whines.

Mermista rolls her eyes and looks at Catra. “You’re an evil nightmare. Can I just fucking eat now?”

Adora, as oblivious as ever, chooses this moment to wander in from the courtyard entrance. She sees Catra and immediately just fucking beams like they have been apart for more than 3 hours. 

“Catra!” She runs up to her and throws an arm around her waist. “Are you joining us for lunch?!”

Glimmer is not as much of an idiot as she looks. “Adora! Where have you been? You said you were with Catra.”

Catra feels two squeezes on her waist. “I was,” Adora begins. She’s really trying not to change her face but it seems like she can’t think and lie at the same time.

“Cool your jets, Sparkles,” Catra adds. “I just came in to grab some sustenance. Gotta keep up my strength from the constant ravishment.” Adora’s blank face tells her that she has no idea what that means.

Glimmer clearly does. She’s now both disgusted  _ and  _ enraged. “Adora, I thought you said you two were working on treaty terms together.”

“It was a euphemism,” Catra says, pretending to be very disappointed in Glimmer’s naivete. She turns to Adora, “Grab some food, dummy. We can take it out to the woods and eat in peace.”

“You are not allowed to leave the grounds, Catra. I forbid it!” 

Glimmer has lost control of her own princesses cause they’ve now moved to sit and eat, but she’s not budging.

Catra moves to take a step closer to Glimmer but Adora’s grip around her waist doesn’t let up. They don’t have a secret message for ‘don’t murder this person’ so Adora’s just frantically squeezing. Catra takes a breath.

Very calmly, she states, “I’m not under arrest. Until then, I can move freely.”

Catra begins to leave. It seems like the best decision, rather than starting a full-blown war over a spoiled princess and being barred from not even the fanciest dining hall in the castle. 

She moves quickly and is able to make it almost out of the door, when her ears pick up Glimmer saying to Adora, “I cannot believe that you married her. Did you forget  _ what _ she is?”

What. Not  _ who _ . She likely means nothing by it. Probably just, ‘Horde scum.’ Not ‘mangy runt’, or ‘wild beast’, or all the other bullshit that Shadow Weaver used to call her. What is it with self-righteous magic assholes thinking they can turn Adora against her? Catra was prepared to try to be the bigger person first once. This she cannot stand though. Glimmer’s tone. Her insinuation. 

Something swells up in Catra’s throat and she has to will her claws not to extend. She swivels back around to begin to march towards Glimmer. 

“Want to repeat that to my face?”

“Why?” Glimmer laughs. “I thought you had such great hearing.”

“With your constant childish screeching, I could probably hear you from  _ space _ , Glitter.” The queen heaves a very undignified gasp. “And don’t act all high and mighty. You’re not much better than me. I don’t understand how you get to be making decisions on my whole life just cause you fell out of the right vagina.” 

Yes, this is about  _ class _ and-and her  _ civil liberties _ , godsdamnit. Catra reminds herself that she has the higher ground. Which she will use to knock Glitter right off her horse.

But Glimmer goes for the fucking jugular. “Not better than you?! You opened the portal! Knowing exactly how dangerous it was  _ for the entire universe _ . You belong in a prison for the rest of your awful life!”

Catra nearly winces but forces herself not to flinch in front of these idiots. 

“Yeah, well the universe has tried to destroy  _ me _ plenty of times so I guess we’re even now. Besides, Hordak and Entrapta built the portal –  _ Entrapta’s _ not in jail.”

“You attacked her and pulled the lever!”

Catra takes an accusatory step forward, pointing at Glimmer’s beady little eyes. “You activated the Heart of Etheria.  _ You’re _ not in jail.”

“You attacked Salineas and destroyed the Sea Gate.”

Somewhere off to the right, Mermista groans. “Yeah, that  _ sucked _ , dude.”

Catra will not be deterred. “You broke into the Fright Zone repeatedly and blew all kinds of shit up. Again, why do you think you’re better than me?”

“Because I’m the good guy! You’re  _ evil _ .”

Catra waves a dismissive hand. “My whole life that’s what the Horde taught  _ us _ – we were liberating Etheria from evil princesses who wanted to destroy us. It’s all just indoctrination.”

Scorpia pipes up again, eyes apologetic for just bothering to speak freely. What the fuck is Glimmer doing to these people? “I do have to agree with Wildcat there. Also, I was there with her for most of that. And  _ I’m _ not in jail so…”

“Actually,” Entrapta begins, “data consistently shows that imprisonment does not deter crime, is disproportionately used against the lower-class villagers, and does not end the cycles of trauma that contribute to violence.” She says it as if everyone in the room should already understand that and is just willfully ignoring it. 

Not seeming to notice that the whole room is listening to her now, Entrapta continues, “For example, if Catra is executed or imprisoned, it emboldens the Horde or even a dissenting Rebellion faction, such as Adora and Scorpia, to begin an attack, creating a new war, and the cycle continues, since you did not meaningfully address the underlying factors. Those include the Horde’s long existence as an abusive environment that creates child soldiers, Bright Moon’s lack of infrastructure to home refugees and orphans, the deep economic inequality between the princesses and the townspeople, and many more. 

Catra herself is a product of all of these factors – her family was likely a victim of the war and she was raised in a violent environment, leaving her with post-traumatic stress disorder, no emotional or mental health support, and a lack of healthy,  _ non-space-time continuum destroying _ coping mechanisms. I’ve gathered additional data, particularly on Catra, but it verges on the topic of psychology, which I find...confusing.”

This is just. Wow. 

That’s the single most devastating read that Catra’s ever witnessed. It would be pretty horrifying to have Entrapta drag her like that in public, except Catra’s pretty sure that the weirdo is saying that everything she did is the princesses fault. Softens the blow a little.

No one else is speaking, struck mute either by Entrapta talking that long about  _ people _ and not tech, or by the realization that Entrapta thinks they’re part of what’s wrong at the root of Etheria. Catra chances a glance at Adora next to her and the blonde’s eyes are glazed over, trying to compute what’s happening.

Spinnerella clears her throat finally. “Thank you, Entrapta,” she says with a smile. “What a succinct and well-researched point. One that I hope that we can all reflect on.” She gives Netossa an intense look, though her smile remains. 

Glimmer grumbles for a solid 60 seconds, her words growing in tenor and coherence, until she just blurts out, “I don’t believe this mating thing is real!”

Savage. Just like Catra suspected, Glimmer at least understands how to cut to the heart of the matter. The Queen’s not playing for scraps, she’s trying to take the whole damn thing. Game recognize game, so Catra just shrugs. 

The princesses all gasp though, clutching their pearls. Is calling someone and their whole marriage a lie in public that uncouth? What counts as ‘jokes’ in the Horde are usually deeply awful and very personal insults. The princesses really need to toughen up.

No one else is speaking so it’s very easy to hear Mermista mutter, “Dude, way to be culturally insensitive.”

Everyone else clucks their tongues and tsks at Glimmer. She’s blushing now under the weight of everyone’s disappointment.

Glimmer stammers, “Not– I didn’t–. Yes, the Magicats do – or  _ did _ – adhere to those rituals and their traditions are respected and affirmed here.” She manages to finish it with more of an airy royal tone. Then she’s immediately back to red-hot rage, “I just don’t believe that  _ Catra _ who was orphaned as an infant, grew up in the Horde, and is the only cat person we’ve ever  _ seen _ knows or gives a shit about that custom.” 

She turns back to Catra, accusatory fingers waving all around in the air, “It’s a fake marriage! We’ve known Adora for 4 years and she’s never once mentioned that she was in love with you!”

Catra only narrows her eyes and slowly crosses her arms. She’s oh-so-casual and unconcerned when she says, “Not everyone goes around being so  _ obvious _ about who they’re in love with except you and Bow.”

And whoops, turns out mentioning very blatant pining that everyone’s fully aware of out loud in Bright Moon is also unbecoming. It has Bow sputtering like he’s forgotten how to breathe, while the princesses are all gasping and clucking again.

Except Glimmer. Glimmer balls up both fists and launches herself in the air towards Catra like 4.5-feet of pure fury.

Catra doesn’t even duck. She straightens up to her full height, daring Glimmer to land the punch she’s cocked up. If they’re going to war, no one’s going to say that Catra’s at fault. Glimmer started it. What a piss poor leader she is.

Adora growls and catches the Queen mid-air, grounding her until Bow can rush to her side and reason with her. Once that’s secure, Adora is immediately on Catra, wrapping her arms around her, softly asking if Catra is okay like Glimmer just knocked her out with a haymaker or something. It’s a little ridiculous but Catra likes the attention so she’s not complaining.

“Why are you  _ doting _ on her?” Glimmer is screaming. “She started this fucking mess!”

“Wow,” Catra says. “You kiss your boyfriend with that potty mouth? I guess not, or he wouldn’t be hanging out with Perfuma.”

“That was years ago!” she screams, and her balled fist is starting to glow and raise back towards Catra.

“Okay!” Bow screams at the top of his lungs. 

Everyone freezes. Catra doesn’t even know him that well (hence, why she only had ammo from something that happened forever ago) but she’s not the only person who seems genuinely surprised at him raising his voice. 

He announces, “Lunch is cancelled. I’ll have the staff bring the food to the war room so we can continue. Mermista, Frosta – can you help escort the Queen back please?” He turns to Catra. “Adora, Scorp–”

Before he can finish his thought, Scorpia is rushing over towards Catra, yelling, “On it, boss.” 

‘It’ is apparently  _ lifting _ Catra in the air over her shoulder and beginning to exit the room. Adora follows growling very loudly. Catra just looks at her over Scorpia’s shoulder and winks saucily. Perfuma weaves through the crowd to join them as well.

As she’s carried out the courtyard door, Catra twists in Scorpia’s hold to yell back to Glimmer, “To be continued, your majesty!” If Catra catches her outside, she’s gonna knock Glitter’s shiny, perfect teeth out.

Scorpia doesn’t stop once they’re out of the room. They reach a part of the garden that Catra imagines most folks would think is very pretty – there’s fancy marble structures and ancient-looking wooden planks with hanging flowers looping around them. Scorpia drops Catra right in the center of it, onto her feet.

“Sorry about that, Wildcat,” Scorpia takes a step back, remembering personal space for the first time without a loud reminder. “Safety first though.”

Adora rushes to Catra, checking her for injuries again. At least she’s stopped growling, but she’s very pointedly placing her body between Catra and Scorpia.

Catra just smiles at her. “Stop it, you doofus. I’m fine.” She punches Adora in the shoulder, which is probably more comforting than a kiss would be anyway.

“While Glimmer was definitely out of line in questioning your relationship,” Perfuma begins, “perhaps it was not...wise to antagonize her. We are trying to get her on our side, are we not?” She looks to the three former Force Captains for confirmation.

Catra just narrows her eyes. “... _ Our  _ side?”

“Hm? Oh, of course.” Perfuma smiles, faux-innocently. “I am an objective party. I’m not taking any sides. I merely mean, we are all interested in Glimmer viewing the matter in an...unbiased way.”

“Of course!” Scorpia agrees.

Catra is still focused on Perfuma. “What’s your angle?”

Perfuma tilts her head in question. “Angle?”

“What are you getting out of it? Duh.”

Perfuma’s smile grows. “I suppose just the reassurance that none of us will be judged by the worst day of our life. We all are expansive, complex people. Seems a bit unfair to think the only measure of our character is the worst situation we’ve ever been thrown into by the universe.”

Catra feels the ridiculous impulse to either laugh or cry. First Entrapta, now Flower Power? Is she that transparent?

The portal really was the worst day of her life and it had  _ loads  _ of competition. A mountain of awful days in a truly awful life. Thinking of godsdamn Shadow Weaver manipulating her yet again just so she could go join Adora. Just so everyone could be away from Catra, like she was a fucking plague. Never good enough to get anyone to stay.

Catra really was happy in the Crimson Waste, away from everything about the Horde. With people who respected her and feared her and actually  _ wanted _ her around. Scorpia was right – if they had stayed there, none of that-

“Scorpia?” Catra attempts to say, but it comes out more like a choked sob. Her ears lower against her head.

“Yeah, Wildcat?” She asks gently.

Catra angles Adora to the side so she can meet Scorpia’s eyes. “I’m sorry I’m such a fuck up.” Catra expects her to say something silly like, ‘don’t talk about my best friend like that.’

Scorpia's voice is so gentle. “I know, buddy.” 

Catra heaves a wet laugh at that.

“Scorpia,” Perfuma warns sternly. Adora just grumbles.

“What?!” 

Perfuma sighs. “Catra, sometimes when we think we’re inherently wrong or broken or bad, we begin to believe that’s all we can be. So we never allow ourselves to fly higher than that, to accept that we can be more than that. Failure or rejection is a much more frightening possibility when you don’t have a built-in excuse.” She looks sternly at Catra now. “You. Are not. A fuck up. You should try practicing saying that to yourself sometimes.” That feels unlikely. All of it does really. 

“Wow, Perfuma,” Scorpia gushes. “You have blown my mind. Isn’t she amazing, Wildcat? So smart and thoughtful.”

“Yeah,” Catra mumbles, eyes falling to the ground. “Thanks.”

“Adora, why don’t we give Scorpia and Catra some time to catch up with each other?” Perfuma begins pulling Adora’s arm quickly. Adora just hangs on to Catra tighter.

“It’s fine, princess. Go finish working on our treaty.” Catra hopes her eyes convey the deeper message but Adora’s face is just mildly panicked.

“Is that still a euphemism?” Scorpia whispers to Perfuma.

“Okay, fine!” Adora concedes. 

She wrenches herself out of Perfuma’s grip to get closer to Catra. Adora leans down, inching her face near her mate’s. Catra’s eyes widen in terror – are they going to have their first kiss in front of these two fucking goobers? That would be mortifying, with the cooing and the teasing. 

But, Adora rubs her cheek all over both of Catra’s and then her neck. Catra wonders if Adora’s aware of the crush that Scorpia used to have on her or just insecure about her own muscles. Once she’s convinced that Adora’s done marking her and is now just being greedy, Catra pushes her away. 

“Gods, Adora, we can be apart for 15 minutes and people will still know that I own you.” A small smile still breaks through her exasperation.

Perfuma physically drags Adora away and the dummy still keeps looking back at Catra until they’re out of sight.

“She really loves you,” Scorpia says out of fucking nowhere. Who says shit like that out loud?

“I’m about to talk about my feelings, Scorpia,” Catra gets out, despite her throat feeling like it’s closing and her face being on fire. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

Scorpia looks confused but just shrugs.

“Are you okay, Wildcat?”

Catra snorts. “I’ve killed an alien conqueror with my bare hands,” the thousand ton pipe  _ helped _ , “I can handle myself against a glitter bomb.”

Scorpia nods. “I mean, are you  _ okay _ ?” Her face is so open, just radiating dumb Scorpia warmth and compassion. “I haven’t seen you in awhile. I know you’ve been through a lot.”

“I’m fine,” Catra responds. “According to Entrapta, this isn’t the darkest possible timeline.” 

Scorpia seems confused again, but Catra is in no position to explain Entrapta’s theories on space and time and the universe.

Catra motions with her head towards a nearby bench. “You want to sit for a minute?”

The bench looks at first like it could reasonably fit two people. Scorpia ends up taking up 80% of it, smushing Catra to one side and having to constantly remember to keep her tail to herself.

“I was a bad friend,” Catra starts, staring at the ground. “You were right. About a lot of things actually. I shoulda listened to you more.” She’s not sure where to go from here, but Scorpia lets her gather her thoughts for a minute. “Um, I apologized to Entrapta – who made me apologize to her fucking  _ robot _ – and I get why you had to leave.”

They’re quiet for a second. And then there’s a large pincer on her shoulder. Scorpia doesn’t speak until Catra turns to look at her. Of course the big red bug is on the verge of tears.

“I know words are hard for you, Wildcat. I appreciate you being brave for me. That means a lot.” Scorpia drops her pincer and sighs. “I’m sorry, too. It wasn’t my plan to force you out of the Fright Zone. I just wanted to come back. Didn’t realize that would turn into a  _ political _ thing. Guess I still don’t really understand how this princess stuff works.”

Catra remembers the Crimson Waste again. Scorpia’s belief that they could be happy there. 

“Come back for what?”

Scorpia is sad for a moment, but then a determined but small smile comes through. “My family’s there. I mean,  _ buried _ there. But the rest of my family too – you, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, everyone really. Now that Hordak’s gone, I want to go back and make it the perfect place to live!”

Catra shakes her head in astonishment. “I can’t imagine people actually  _ enjoying _ living in the Fright Zone.” She pauses. “I mean, no one’s miserable right now.” 

Catra thinks about how she hasn’t really had like a full conversation or anything with a cadet in well over a year, locked away in her sanctum.

“I know! You’ve been doing such a great job!” Scorpia starts bouncing in her seat. “But it would be nice if folks could, you know, leave if they wanted. Travel. Get jobs. Have families. See more of Etheria.”

“People don’t want to mingle with Horde scum,” Catra mutters.

“We’ve been working on a plan for that! Perfuma helped me create, like, a re-entry plan to help get everyone ready for the world outside of the Horde. Skills they’d need to know, lies about Etheria that they have to unlearn.” 

“It’s not going to be easy, Scorpia. You can’t just come back and try to change everyone’s life, promising everything will be rainbows and friendship.”

Scorpia’s shoulders droop a bit. “I know. I wanted to come back, work with you to start slowly.”

“I don’t think the princesses plan on letting me return.”

“Hey,” Scorpia says softly. Catra looks over to her. “If this isn’t what you want for the Fright Zone, then it’s off the table.”

“It’s not about what  _ I  _ want. It’s about all the soldiers.” Catra sighs, can’t believe she’s about to say this. “Let me check in and see how they might feel.”

“Oh, could you?!” Scorpia looks like she’s about to hug Catra but manages to hold back. “If you promise to help set everything up, maybe the Alliance will have no choice but to let you return.”

That feels hard to believe. “I don’t know, Scorp’. Don’t get your hopes up, okay?”

“Unless.” She chews her lip for a moment. More quietly she says, “Do you not want to return?”

Catra’s eyes widen. “Wha-”

“It’s okay,” Scorpia rushes. “If you wanted to, you know, stay here with Adora.”

“Are you out of your mind?!?!” Catra squeaks.

Scorpia just smiles patiently. “Okay, my bad, I guess. What  _ do _ you want, Wildcat? Cause it doesn’t seem like anyone’s bothered asking you that yet.”

They sit in silence for a good long while, Catra’s mind racing. Everything seems to swirl around and around, leaving her with nothing solid that she could hold on to, find grounding in. 

When Catra finally speaks, she whispers, beat, “I don’t know yet.”

She lets Scorpia finally hug her. It’s nice and makes Catra feel a bit silly about avoiding Scorpia for the past couple weeks. She was scared and pissed but what was she supposed to do? Just not have Scorpia in her life? That seems impossible after everything Scorpia’s given her.

“That’s okay, little buddy. I’ll help you no matter what.”

It’s nearing dinner time when she finally gets Scorpia to let her go. This has been the most confusing day and Catra just needs some a small space to curl up alone. She makes her way to the library. She doesn’t spend much time here, but it’s usually completely empty around mealtimes. Catra manages to find the darkest corner, lift herself up onto the top of a bookcase, and roll herself into a tiny ball. She tries not to think about the future or the past, since the present’s already insufferable enough as it is.

A high-pitched squeal pierces the silence. Catra realizes that she must have nodded off while trying to relax. She doesn’t recognize the scent, and honestly even if she did, she probably wouldn’t bother waking up to talk to them. So she lies there, eyes still closed, trying not to give herself away.

“Shh, Dad,” Bow whispers. “Lower your voice. Catra can be...irritable if she’s woken up from a nap.”

Bow is far too polite. Catra’s made people in the castle cry on several occasions, just for waking her up. Most of the time, it’s Sea Hawk.

Whoever ‘Dad’ is attempts to be quieter but not by much. 

“Her stripes!” he whisper-shouts. “I agree with you, son, that she’s a bit small for a Magicat, but it’s hard to tell from this distance and angle. Texts describe them as much taller and more muscular. Though your friend could be underdeveloped and malnourished from a lifetime under Horde care.”

Is this Bow’s scheme? Prove she isn't whatever bullshit back story Adora concocted in her giant empty head? Catra’s impressed. She didn’t think he had it in him. 

Also, are they  _ friends _ ?

“Is her tail prehensile?” ‘Dad’ asks.

“I don’t think so? It’s hard to tell. I always get the sense that Catra is...holding back, I guess. Adora’s implied before that their guardian tried to get Catra to repress a lot of her instinctive traits.”

“How can we help?” a third, deeper voice asks.

“If you could point me towards any info you have about Magicat diets or social characteristics or anything else that would help me figure out how to make Catra more comfortable around Bright Moon, that would be great. Have you noticed anything helpful in the library here on your visits?”

Okay, a different scheme. Dupe Catra into getting more comfortable so she’ll let her guard down and Glitter can kill her. Also a solid plan.

‘Dad’ answers, “There’s a section in the east wing here that contains quite a few texts on the lost peoples of Etheria. That should be what you’re looking for.”

“How does Catra spend most of her time here?” the third voice asks.

Bow’s silent for a long minute before mumbling quietly, “With Adora.”

Catra imagines him doing something precious, like blushing. The two others chuckle like there's some inside joke about her and Adora that everyone's in on.

“Ah, young love,” the third voice comments. Gross.

“Historians are really split on the idea of the mating mark,” ‘Dad’ says. “Many of them believe that a lot of the traits – the closeness, the draw to one another, sensing each other's distress – is actually psychosomatic.”

“But,” the other voice interrupts, “scent marking and being territorial was highly observed. Magicats had – or rather,  _ have _ – an enhanced ability to smell so it's possible that the mark just makes them more aware of the presence and needs of their mate.”

Bow hums. “That's helpful to know. Thanks, guys! I really appreciate it.”

“If she ever wants to be interviewed-”

“I highly doubt that. Catra's... private.”

Catra listens as he shoos them from the room. She waits for Bow to grab whatever he's looking for and leave. Instead, he walks back to the bookshelf where she's laying and stops, leaning against it casually.

“How much did you hear?” he asks.

She considers continuing to pretend to be asleep but she’s also curious about what that all meant.

“What gave me away?” she slowly opens her eyes.

Bow smirks. “Your tail started twitching as soon as I mentioned Adora.”

Catra hides her face in her folded arms. “Who were those guys?”

“Oh. Those were my dads. They’re a couple of the scholars that Glimmer invited to dig into the law. I think she’s hoping that they’ll find some ancient Etherian rule that-” he pauses. “Honestly, I don’t know what it could possibly do, but I’m happy to get to spend more time with them.”

“What’s a ‘dad’?” Catra asks.

To her horror, Bow’s eyes begin to fill with tears. “You don’t know what a dad is? Um...they’re sometimes the people who give you life or raise you. But not always. King Micah is Glimmer’s dad.” Well, that explains that weird dynamic. Bow continues to search for other words but Catra’s starting to catch on. “A parent?”

“Like a mom?” 

Bow nods. 

“Kids used to talk about moms in the Horde. Don’t remember anyone mentioning a lot of dads. And you have two? What were they saying about me?”

“They’re just really excited. No one’s seen a Magicat in a really long time. My dads think you’re like living proof of history. History’s kinda their thing.”

“No, about me and Adora,” Catra clarifies. If there’s something with “magic” in its name, Catra isn’t interested. She’s not a “magic” anything so everyone should shut up talking about that.

“Oh,” Bow pauses to think. “From what I gathered, just that some of the lore around mating marks isn’t real. I’ve read stories where mates knew the other one was being attacked two towns over or could pick out each other’s smell at a ball with 1,000 people or,” he lowers his eyes and blushes, “couldn’t keep their hands off of each other when they were in a room.” 

He clears his throat. “George and Lance, that’s their names by the way, were just saying that it’s mostly all in their heads. If you want to believe that the bite does that, you can. But it probably just means those two people really wanted to do those things deep down.” He raises his eyebrows very pointedly at Catra.

Bow’s about as subtle as a tank. And a lot more observant than Catra thought. A good thing to keep in mind, just in case.

With a sigh, Catra stretches and lowers herself to the ground. “That’s something, I guess. Doesn’t really concern me,” she shrugs.

“If you say so,” Bow practically sings.

“I'm gonna head back to my room.”

“I'll walk you,” Bow offers. Catra doesn't feel like fighting or crawling through vents right now so she lets it happen.

After a short while, Bow breaks the comfortable silence. Catra's never seen anyone around here, except the guards, just be quiet for a while. 

“I'm sorry about Glimmer and what happened earlier. I mean, it was all terrible, but the part about your family and everything seemed hard and very personal. I regret that.”

“It's whatever,” Catra shrugs. “Most of us were orphans in the Horde. It's all I've ever known so I'm not super sad about it or anything.”

“Still, it would be understandable if you were sad or had any other feelings about it.”

When Catra doesn't respond, they return to a calming silence again. By the time they've nearly reached her door, Bow has begun to slow down a bit, like he's building up to saying more.

“Spit it out. I've got things to do.” Adora, mostly.

“If you need anything or want to talk, let me know. I get the sense that you didn't get to choose a lot of things for yourself or create your own boundaries before. I can help you. If you want. Or not. It's your choice.”

All these days they've hung out, he's never offered anything except a fun distraction. Catra's not in a position to accept much more. 

“Probably not,” she mumbles. “But...thanks?”

Bow nods, unsurprised. “She's here, you know.” He doesn't have to say who he means. Catra would prefer to not hear her name ever again honestly. “If you want help setting boundaries around that too, just-”

“Let you know,” Catra finishes. “I got it. I'm good though.” She ignores that her hands are starting to shake.

“Catra?” floats from down the hall near her room. Adora's rushing towards them, eyebrows knitted in worry.

Catra glances at Bow and rolls her eyes. Adora's fully committed to this protective mate bit.

She doesn't even acknowledge Bow when she reaches them, just circling her arms around Catra's neck. “Are you okay? I had this weird feeling that you were upset.”

Bow and Catra exchange pointed looks.

“I'm fine, dummy.” Catra looks at both of them. “I talked about my feelings today already so you both missed your chance. Better luck next year. I'm going to my room now.”

She begins walking away, Adora scurrying after her.

“Goodnight, guys!” Bow calls after them.

“It's not psychosomatic,” Catra yells back.

“If you say so,” Bow sings again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep forgetting about Frosta. Is it obvious?
> 
> Chapter 6 preview - Mermista and Lonnie, but not together and dating, which is my dream ship. And we're back to playing chicken.


	6. Game of Chicken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We can lie to our friends. We can lie to everyone in the Alliance." She doesn't say ‘we can lie to ourselves’, even though it's obvious to them both that this is already happening. "But let's try to not lie to each other."
> 
> Catra and Mermista talk about tails. Catra and Lonnie talk about knives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lonnie AND Mermista? Be still my heart. It gets explicit again, right around when Catra says "Again?"
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos and comments! Y'all have some brilliant feedback. Also, some wild ass ideas. I love it. Someone basically predicted the title of this chapter.

Adora, the genius, has been bouncing around all week about the baths at Bright Moon. They’re not as fancy as the ones in Mystacor, she says, but it’s relaxing. Catra has tried to remind her that nothing about water is relaxing but Adora is as insistent as ever.

Catra would prefer to be hanging out in Entrapta’s lab with Scorpia or chasing Sea Hawk around the grounds with a murder bot or getting fucked senseless by Adora, but she dutifully follows her mate to the baths instead. It’s not because Adora casually has her arm around Catra’s shoulder like it belongs there or is making heart eyes at her.

In addition to being in a tub of water, slowly boiling to her death, Catra’s also unsure about being near Adora in a limited amount of clothing in some place other than their bed. That means Adora will also be seeing her in less. Adora politely never really seems to get a good peak when they shower or dress and Catra’s still convinced Adora might not be into her once she gets a full view of who she’s chosen as a mate.

The bath outfit that Adora hands her is a lot less revealing than Catra imagined it to be, basically a white wrap on top and white shorts on bottom. A lot of conflicting feelings go through Catra when she realizes that Adora won’t be nude, mostly since she just literally said she didn’t want that and then was disappointed when she didn’t get the thing she didn't want. She makes Adora explain again that this isn’t really about physically washing their bodies so they don’t have to be naked. Catra definitely wasn’t paying attention when the princess mentioned this before. Probably just daydreaming about Adora wearing only her goofy smile.

Adora has described that there’s lots of different baths in the monstrously huge room. Cold water, water with tonics, water with magic jets. Catra’s committed to sitting in just regular ass water and not having to feel better at all. Adora points her towards the two warm water pools but she isn’t quite sure the difference.

And then suddenly, their indecision is replaced with deep annoyance as Mermista surfaces from the pool on their left. Rather than the stretchy top thing that Adora forced on Catra, the sea princess is wearing a one-piece suit that matches her usual teal and gold uniform. Her hair is down from her signature braid, trailing down her shoulders and floating on the water all around her. 

Catra hates to admit it but Mermista is fucking hot.

“Hey,” she says flatly. “You know there’s no fucking in the baths, right?” 

So that settles that – they’ll be bathing in the pool on the right.

“I think we’ll be able to control ourselves, Mermista,” Adora jokes. 

Catra pays both of them no mind and heads toward the other pool.

“That one’s saltwater, disaster kitty,” Mermista offers. 

Catra pauses. Dried saltwater is awful on her fur. She seems to just absorb it all and end up with like a gross salt ring leftover. One more reason why this is one of Adora’s more awful ideas.

The dummy doesn’t seem to know about that. They weren’t exactly on speaking terms when Catra went Salineas to attack Adora and Mermista and encountered a giant sea of saltwater for the first time.

So, it’s all up to Catra to solve this. She turns to Mermista and tries to keep her tone neutral, hating the idea of asking the princess for anything. “We okay to join you?”

Mermista shrugs. “There’s no rules, right?” She smirks, calling back to Catra’s outburst at Glimmer days earlier.

Catra tentatively tests the water with her toe. “Except no fucking?”

“I think that’s an unspoken agreement for, like,  _ all _ public spaces.”

The water is a decent temperature and doesn’t feel like it’s made of evil magic, just a small amount of regular magic. It’s a bit like the goosebumps Catra gets when Adora runs her finger tips down her arms. 

Catra very gently steps in, slowly immersing herself up to mid-thigh. She can sense Adora getting antsy behind her and Mermista judging her with amused eyes, but she takes her godsdamn time getting comfortable with the sensation before inching herself into a seated position. Adora of course just jumps in and plops down entirely too closely to her mate. Catra barely has time to settle before the blonde is plastered to her side, smiling happily.

There’s a moment where it seems like they’re all going to have to sit in painful awkward silence or, worse, Adora will start babbling about Gods know what, when Sea Hawk strolls in.

“Oh, Meeeerrrrrmiiiiissstaaaaa,” the idiot sings. His smile brightens even wider somehow when he sees that she’s not alone. “Ah, Adora and Catra, Bright Moon’s blushing brides. Excellent to see you both here!” Adora just waves at him like a dope and starts asking him what he’s been up to.

Sea Hawk is, expectedly, the least modest of the group, wearing just the tiniest little bottoms. Catra smirks at Mermista when she realizes that they’re matching.

“What an  _ adorably _ cute color on you, Hawk,” Catra teases. “What inspired the style?”

Mermista shoots him a look that tells him to keep his mouth shut, but Sea Hawk, undeterred, responds, “My darling, Mermista, of course! She so kindly provides me complementary attire to all of her most favored ‘lewks’ as she calls them.” Mermista groans.

When Mermista leans back in the bath, Catra thinks she’s about to drown herself to be free of Sea Hawk forever. Instead, a scaly, shimmery aquamarine mermaid tail peeks up above the surface, the fin intentionally splashing water right into Sea Hawk’s face. She manages to hit Catra a bit too. Usually, Catra would lose her temper over having to endure even more water, but the tail thing’s actually pretty cool.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be, Hawk?” Mermista says pointedly.

“Ah, yes. 50 feet of distance between us, at least two hours per day.” He looks to the two others. “My darling knows that her absence strokes the flames of my love into a roaring fire.”

“And you’ve now reached your quota for fire metaphors for the day,” Mermista murmurs. “That only took three hours.”

“Does he just have to sit quietly now?” Catra asks. “I don’t think he knows other words.”

“I wish.”

“Well, as much as it pains me to part from such endeared company, I must refresh myself, shedding the manacles of the past and making myself anew!” 

He thrusts his fist into the air and Adora claps like a complete fool.

“He's just going to the sauna,” Mermista groans as he walks away. “I don't know why he has to be such a drama queen about every entrance and exit.”

“It is nice to always know which rooms he's in,” Catra replies. “To avoid them.”

Mermista surprises her and  _ almost _ smiles. They settle into silence again for a bit, just enjoying the sounds of waves bouncing around the echo-y room.

“Didn't know you had a tail,” Catra casually opens. 

The princess lifts one long, lean leg out of the water and into the air, before lowering. When she extends to lift again, her mermaid tail peaks out. She lowers it again. She looks almost proud to show off.

“You can just change whenever you want?” Catra can hear the slight hint of excitement in her voice. What a nerd this place has made her.

Mermista shrugs. “Pretty much. I mean, being in water helps. Kinda useless on land.”

“That’s cool, I guess. To be able to turn it off.” Catra tries to keep any bitterness out of her face.

“I guess,” Mermista agrees. “None of the other princesses can really do anything like this. Except Scorpia. Sucked ass when I was a kid, though. Being different.”

Catra nods. “Other kids are pieces of shit,” she says breezily, trying not to think about all the names other cadets called her growing up.

“Bet Adora was cool, though,” Mermista nods towards Adora, who’s already asleep on Catra’s shoulder.

“Meh, she was alright,” but she can’t help her smile.

“Look,” Mermista sighs. “I get your whole vibe. I know you were hella hot in that little one-sleeve number. I just don’t trust you.”

Catra’s not sure if she should be offended and flattered.

“I’ve seen you with Sea Hawk, though,” Mermista frowns just a little less here. “You haven’t scratched out his eyes yet, so I’m guessing you’re a lot less evil than you’d like us to think. That act probably kept you safe and alive for a long time. And Adora trusts you. I know she probably doesn’t trust  _ us _ right now, or whatever. This whole thing is a clusterfuck. I didn't join the Alliance to fight over land.”

Not knowing what to do with any of this info, Catra asks, “Why did you join?”

“I don't know,” Mermista mumbles with a shrug. “To keep my people safe. Same reason why you’re still here when you could have just scampered back to the Fright Zone night one. Well, that plus Adora, I’m guessing.”

Catra scoffs. “Please. Adora – always around, trying to get my attention.” She rolls her eyes and pretends to be annoyed. “You know what that’s like.”

Mermista glances out the way that Sea Hawk went, just a tiniest smile on her face. “Yeah, I get it.”

Catra lazily stretches, as much as she can with Adora pressed to her side. “So, what do you want? Out of this whole thing?”

Mermista’s lips flatten into a straight line. “Not vengeance, like Glimmer. Penance, I guess. A lot of Salineans suffered. They deserve something.”

Catra thinks about how she had wanted penance from Adora. Figures there’s more than enough to go around. She nods at Mermista, accepting that.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, just relaxing into the water. It’s not so bad after all, Catra thinks.

“ _ You _ were hella hot at Princess Prom,” she tells Mermista.

The princess chuckles. “Sure, like you took your eyes off of this one at all that night,” she says dryly, motioning with her head towards Adora.

Back in their room later, Adora won’t stop pacing. When Adora excitedly rushed her off after the bath, this is not what Catra thought she had in mind.

“I can’t believe Mermista talked to you!” Adora gushes. “I don’t think she really talks to anyone.”

“She’s cool or whatever,” Catra shrugs. 

“That wasn’t part of the plan. This is good.” Adora thinks for a moment, still moving back and forth. “I’m not good with people so I didn’t really factor that into the plan. But you are.”

“Yeah, no. People hate me. And the feeling is mutual.”

“But Mermista talked to you! That’s good progress.”

“Princess,” Catra says. “What’s going on in your giant head?”

“Strategizing,” Adora answers with way too much enthusiasm. “Mermista could be another vote on our side.”

“Doubtful. I’m still not her favorite person. She just won’t drown me in my sleep now is all.”

“Progress!” Adora repeats brightly.

“Okay,” Catra sighs. “Tell me your dumb plans.”

Maybe the wording on that should have been gentler cause Adora suddenly looks really embarrassed.

“Oh, Gods, are they  _ that _ bad?” Catra just continues to dig in. “I mean, the bite was dumb but I assumed you spent all this time and energy on a better endgame.” 

Adora begins to wring her hands. “I know! It’s...not strong.”

Catra makes space on the bed for Adora to sit and motions for her to come over. Adora follows obediently as always.

“Plan 1,” Adora begins slowly. “They agree our union is real and that you have immunity an-”

“We leave and return to the Fright Zone,” Catra finishes. “And Scorpia comes and fills it with balloons and parties and we all live happily ever after?” Adora’s just beginning to smile when Catra finishes, “That’s a terrible plan. There’s no way the princesses are letting me out of this with zero consequences.” Adora deflates and frowns.

“Fine. Plan 2. The first part happens. Even with immunity, you could offer to sign a treaty and return the Scorpion Kingdom.”

“And when the princesses insist that a part of the terms include me never returning to the Fright Zone? Where do we go?”

Adora groans. “I’m still working on that part. Plan 3. No immunity so they take you to trial and find you guilty. Then I break you ou-”

“And you spend the rest of your life on the run, Adora? You have no idea how to lay low. You wouldn't last a week!” Just the thought makes Catra cackle, increasing Adora’s frustration.

“Plan 4,” she practically shouts. “We just leave now. What are they going to do? Try to take the Fright Zone by force?”

“If you thought that was a viable idea, you’d have done it by now. Too many lives could be lost.”

“Well,” Adora sighs. “What have you been planning?”

“Nothing,” Catra mumbles quickly. Maybe a bit too quickly cause Adora’s looking at her suspiciously now. 

This whole time, Catra’s been imagining all the places in these half-cocked plans where she can abandon Adora and break her heart. The one where she busts Catra out of jail was particularly fun – the idea of pulling a fast one on Adora and leaving her in Catra’s cell in her place feels almost too good to pass up.

“Hey,” Adora says softly. She moves a bit closer to Catra. “We can lie to our friends. We can lie to everyone in the Alliance." She doesn't say ‘we can lie to ourselves’, even though it's obvious to them both that this is already happening. "But let's try to not lie to each other." 

The vulnerability in her face almost, kinda makes Catra feel bad for plotting the ultimate payback. Almost.

“Sure,” Catra says flippantly. “You’re a terrible liar anyway.”

Adora laughs lightly, shrugging shamelessly. “So what have you come up with?”

“Meh. Not much yet,” Catra says. It’s adjacent to the truth.

“I think we should go to Salineas,” Adora suggests.

“Hard no.”

“Please,” she whines. “I think it’ll help. They don’t need us here anyway. If we show Glimmer that you can travel without running off or coming back with soldiers, I think it’ll build trust. Plus, I feel like we kinda owe Mermista after everything.”

“... _ We _ ? Did  _ you _ blow up everything there and claim it in Hordak’s name?”

“I mean. We’re in this together now.”

Catra just blinks at Adora like she’s lost her mind. “ _ Why _ ??”

Now apparently it's Adora's turn to look at Catra like  _ she's _ the one being ridiculous. 

“Cause we're mates.” Adora moves a bit closer to Catra to emphasize this point. 

“Duh,” Catra responds. “Of course.” 

She does not get it. Being mates means Adora fixes her mistakes? Have they been mates since they were kids? Ugh, no, that's stupid. Adora did that because she felt pity for Catra...right? 

But Adora's big dumb blue eyes look like they're filling up with something much deeper than pity. And, in the silence, she’s starting to move even further into Catra's space. So close, like she could lean in just an inch and kiss Catra, help her understand that they really are in this together...

Catra hops right out of the bed, leaping over Adora. “I have to go.” 

“Right now? We're in the middle of a strategy session.”

Is  _ that _ what that was? Strategy sessions with Lonnie don't end up them making googly eyes at each other.

Yes, Lonnie! Good excuse! “I have to go call Lonnie about all this,” Catra evades. 

“You can call her from here,” Adora correctly points out. 

“The signal’s better up high.” She has no way of knowing if this is true but it sounds kinda right. Catra thankfully remembers to pick up her tracker pad to sell the lie. She heads for the door. “Cool. So I'll see you later, we're not going to Salineas, and you’re an idiot. Good meeting.”

By the time Catra’s hidden away in a giant tree and explained Scorpia’s big idea to Lonnie, she’s only still half concerned about whatever just happened with Adora.

“I mean,” Lonnie says after pondering it for awhile, “It’s not the worst idea I’ve heard. Kyle’s been trying to convince everyone we should form a professional Kyle Ball league.”

Catra just looks at her, dumbfounded.

Lonnie supplies, “It's a game he-”

“I could not give less of a shit about that,” Catra interrupts. “You think people will be...happy, I guess? With this re-entry thing?”

“I have no fucking clue. Most of us don’t remember anywhere else.” Lonnie pauses to think. “The folks stationed in the village outposts love it.”

Catra nods. Yeah, she's heard that. Kids amazed to not live under a red sky and smell more than chemical waste for the first time. 

“Where would you go?” Catra can barely get out, her voice straining at the thought.

Lonnie sighs, “I don’t know, Cat. But it’d be kinda nice to have an option for once.”

They just sit together for a while, like Catra's back home in her sanctum. The Fright Zone was supposed to be her triumph; hearing even Lonnie talk about leaving makes it sound like her tomb.

Catra decides to switch gears to the other great tragedy of her life.

“Remember when we tried kissing when we were like 14? Was that…weird?”

Lonnie snorts. “Mad weird. Didn't you cry after?”

Catra had forgotten that part. She only talked Lonnie into it because Catra wanted to get more experience so that she was prepared if A–...if  _ anyone _ offered to kiss her. 

As soon as her and Lonnie’s lips touched, Catra panicked. She thought Adora would find out and think she was some kind of kissing ho and never want her. So she had a fit for 2 days, starting fights with everyone and crying in the Fright Zone vents every chance she had. She refused to come out until Adora found her, offered her extra ration bars, and whispered about how amazing and strong and funny Catra was. And how much Adora missed her when she hid.

“... uh huh. Yeah, but it was weird in other ways, right?” Catra knows she's leading, praying that Lonnie catches a fucking hint.

“We have zero chemistry. We were both in love with other people.”

Catra huffs, frustration mounting. “Ugh, no. I mean the other stuff.”

“What other stuff? I ain't a mind reader, Cat. You better spit that shit out.”

“I have knives for teeth, Lonnie!” she shouts. “And also a million  _ tiny  _ knives on my tongue!”

Lonnie cackles so hard that she almost falls out of her chair. 

“Fucking hell! You've been there a month and you haven't even  _ kissed her yet _ ?!”

“We do other things!” Catra screams and then she has the good sense to look around and make sure Entrapta's not lurking somewhere behind her.

Lonnie quiets herself enough to say, “You absolute mess of a person.” 

She seems to be searching for the kindest way to let Catra down. But what she says is carefully worded, “Some people like a little pain, you know?” She pauses to let that land, just looking at Catra pointedly. 

That's true. Gods, why has Lonnie always been better at these things than she is? Adora does seem to like having her hair pulled. For fucks sake, she  _ came _ when Catra gave her the mating bite. Maybe she'll start slow, test a few things.

“This is like watching someone slowly solve the world's most obvious puzzle,” Lonnie mutters, half to herself. “Don't you have super vision? Why can't you see what's right in front of your fucking face?”

“Shut your mouth hole! I'm making a battle plan.”

Lonnie doesn't miss a beat. “I can't believe you called me on the phone about  _ your  _ mouth hole.”

“I called you about Scorpia’s plan.”

“Me having to talk about your tongue was just a bonus?” She raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Get off the fucking phone and go get your girl.”

And then Lonnie hangs up in Catra's face, like she's  _ Kyle _ or something. The nerve of some people.

So Catra has a battle plan now. That's good. Something solid to ground this. She keeps having to replace “attack” with “kiss” in her mind, before realizing this is completely doomed.

“Okay, regroup,” she mutters.

“What’s that?” Perfuma asks. Catra glances down and Perfuma is seated on the ground a little further up where she’s currently standing. The princess has her legs crossed and looks like she’s been startled awake.

“Nothing,” Catra mutters. She takes a look around and apparently her feet took her to the garden while she was replaying her battle plan in her mind. Gods, had she been that distracted? 

“Sorry. For interrupting...whatever you’re doing.”

“No worries,” Perfuma says with a smile. “Just a little meditation break. The energy in the war room is stagnant. It’s a bit hard to concentrate.”

“Uh huh,” Catra replies absently. That answered nothing for her but it’s not her problem. She waves at Perfuma and turns to go.

“What  _ were _ you saying?” Perfuma asks. 

Catra stops and turns to her.

With a small shake of her head, she offers, “Nothing. Um, just thinking about something...personal.”

Perfuma seems to accept that and closes her eyes. It’s an interesting show of vulnerability, Catra thinks to herself. She turns to leave again and a fairly odd thought occurs to her. Perfuma seems opened-minded or something. She doesn’t want Catra to be imprisoned. Scorpia’s been saying she’s so amazing and shit.

“Catra, would you possibly like to sit and talk a little?” Perfuma asks. She manages to not sound too eager or too saccharine.

“Sure, what the hell,” Catra shrugs. She heads over closer and plops herself down a short space away.

Perfuma looks like she’s about to ask something annoying like how is Catra holding up or what’s worrying her.

So Catra just jumps in, “You and Scorpia are fucking, right?”

Perfuma swallows her tongue. Or Catra’s pretty sure she does cause she gulps loudly and her eyes go super wide. And she doesn’t respond, like for a good while.

Fucking finally, she stammers out, “N-n-no. No.” Perfuma clears her throat. “We are...courting. Possibly.” With a sigh, “I hope so.”

“ _ Balls _ !” Catra yells, exasperated. “No, if you can’t figure that shit out then you’re no better off than me.”

“Things are complicated. And must be handled lightly. Especially when one party has been hurt before.” She clearly struggles not to be defensive but Catra’s happy that she shows a little bite for once.

“Yeah, that’s real,” Catra replies. She knows how that is. She also feels a little bad for the continued effects of her shitty behavior towards Scorpia.

“I could teach you about meditation,” Perfuma offers. “It often helps me order my thoughts. Perhaps it can help you get to the root of your problem.”

“Uh, nope, thanks. I know the root of my problem.” 

She does: Catra wants things, is terrified of actually having to ask for those things and the prospect of doing those things, but also again really wants those things; Adora is oblivious to all things and seems to want no things and it’s unclear if she wants Catra.

“That’s good then,” Perfuma says. “Sometimes it helps me to dig deeper.”

“Like how?”

“Hmm, think not just about the surface problem. Instead, focus on why I’m reacting to it in a certain way. Or how I would fix it long-term, rather than just the immediate issue.”

Catra does not get it. She considers herself pretty smart and this is not computing at all. 

She nods sagely at Perfuma and says, “That was really helpful. Thanks. I’m gonna go do that in my room.” Immediately, she jumps to her feet and moves to leave.

“It’s okay to say it doesn’t make sense, Catra.” She freezes. “I can tell that particular advice didn’t resonate with you. I appreciate you trying to spare my feelings instead of turning me down.”

“I just thought it would get me out of the conversation quicker, to be honest,” Catra shrugs. She can't have this girl thinking she's nice or anything.

Perfuma laughs. “Wise. Can I ask  _ your _ advice actually?”

Catra tilts her head in amused confusion. “Me? Sure, hit me.” She decides to just lay in the grass where she’s standing.

Perfuma’s words are slow, very carefully thought out as she speaks, “I’m not quite sure how to communicate to Scorpia that I’m interested in her romantically in a way that inspires her to respond. She doesn’t have to be interested in the same way, of course. Just a clear response would suffice.”

“Yeah, no, I’m not the right person to ask.” Perfuma doesn’t disagree, she just waits patiently. Catra thinks of what Lonnie would say. “You could just tell her.”

“I’ve done that multiple times,” the princess replies, amused in a rueful way. “She tends to just say she likes me too or she’s also interested or she’d love to have dinner and then nothing changes.”

Catra laughs and then stops and winces. “Sorry – that’s not  _ at _ you.”

Perfuma shrugs it off.

“And you can’t just kiss her,” Catra says. “Kissing’s...complicated…,” she trails off. Catching herself, she hurries out, “Cause you don’t want to rush or pressure her, right? That’s what you said.”

“Yes. Consent is also important. I wouldn't want to force her into a physical interaction that she wasn’t okay with or prepared for.”

Catra nods. “You could tell her that you’re interested in kissing and would be open to it one day if she wanted to. But like, no pressure.” And then run away and hide forever. That sounds like what Catra would do.

Perfuma laughs lightly. “You know, as nerve-wracking as that idea is, I think it might be an excellent next step.”

“Cool,” Catra half-smiles. 

She figures Scorpia deserves something nice. Soon everyone will be kissing around Bright Moon except her. Probably not Bow and Glimmer either, so that makes her feel a little better. She's... actually not sure where Entrapta stands on the matter. 

“How are you gonna build up the nerve or whatever?”

“Hmm,” Perfuma considers. “Probably a little meditation. Maybe a calming tea. Most likely just panic and blurt it out and possibly fuck everything up.“ Catra nearly gasps out loud at hearing her cuss. Perfuma just waves it off like Catra’s just being silly. “Who knows when the right time will be? But, it’s important to be brave for the people who care about us.”

“I’m sure you crazy kids’ll figure it out then.”

Perfuma laughs. “I hope so.”

Her laughter is cut short by raised voices from the war room. Catra can’t quite make out the words cause there’s just so much sound but she can definitely hear Glimmer going non-stop and Adora seeming to try to match her.

Perfuma sighs and rubs her temples as if a headache has been long forming.

“Things always this bad lately?” Catra asks.

“We are not in alignment,” the princess returns. “Not just on a plan but in our core values. Every interaction is somehow a political maneuver right now. Very straining on the spirit.”

Catra slowly sits up from the ground, a fun thought brewing. “I know what’ll shut ‘em up for a while.”

“I’m not generally opposed to communication but yes, a respite from all of the bickering would be welcome.”

Grinning, Catra stands and extends an arm to Perfuma. The princess seems just a tick wary but accepts it anyway, looping her arm through Catra’s. The Commander leads her towards the door and into the castle.

The fighting stops as soon as everyone catches sight of them. Hell, Catra’s pretty sure everyone stops breathing altogether based on how silent the room is. She wants to say something clever but fears that pouring it on too thickly will ruin the bit. 

So she just walks Perfuma over to the only empty chair at the table. And then, to really put a cherry on the pie of being a total shit, Catra pulls her chair out for her. Perfuma sits casually and gracefully, like she’s got all the time in the world and nothing is happening around them. Before Catra can turn to leave, Perfuma smiles brightly and fucking  _ winks _ at her. A few chairs down, Adora growls quietly.

“Thanks for your help, princess,” Catra bows slightly.

For some reason, Perfuma blushes and fucking  _ giggles _ . “No, Commander. Thank  _ you _ .”

Catra turns on her heel and begins to head back out to the garden. She makes it only a few steps before Adora's hand is around her wrist. It’s not too tight but it’s sudden enough that Catra has to will herself not to reflexively snap at her. Catra's kinda proud of herself for that.

“ _ Hey _ , Adora,” she says, which triggers a collective groan from the room.

“No, we’re in the middle of meeting,” Glimmer declares. “No distractions. You have to leave, Catra.”

“But we’re almost done,” Adora whines. “We’re not getting anywhere. Can we just wrap up?”

A few people seem to agree but Glimmer’s not backing down. “No! We’re going to finish. You two spend more than enough time together.” 

Catra doesn’t think she’s imagining that the queen’s tone sounds very, very salty.

“Well, Catra can stay,” Adora says quickly. “Everything we’re saying will affect her anyway.”

Before Glimmer can refuse again, Catra clears her throat. “Actually, I have a request. Unrelated to the trial and everything.” An idea’s been beginning to brew in her mind, against her better judgement.

She mostly registers Adora’s surprise but the rest of the Alliance seems to be intrigued around her. 

“The royal court recognizes Catra, or whatever,” Mermisa lazily commands.

“That’s not how that works!” Glimmer says.

“It’ll be quick, Sparkles,” Catra tells her. 

Suddenly, it feels really vulnerable to have all of their attention on her for this. A seat might help. There’s no more free chairs though so she hops into Adora’s lap, hoping at the very least that this will calm the anxiety starting to radiate off the blonde. 

“I request permission to leave Bright Moon, accompanied of course. Well, actually I guess I request a lot more than that.”

“N-” Glimmer begins immediately.

“Glimmer,” Bows warns quietly. That seems to shut her up for now.

“I request permission from Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon to travel outside of the castle,” Catra says, trying to sound appropriately formal. She then looks to Mermista. “And I request permission from Princess Mermista of Salineas to accept me temporarily. Scorp’, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you and Adora to be my escorts but first, I’m going to need you to pick up some stuff from the Fright Zone. E-”

“Are you taking a fucking seaside vacation?!” Glimmer screams.

“I’m going to fix the Sea Gate,” Catra replies simply. “With Mermista’s permission, of course.” 

The Rebellion members start murmuring to each other.

“Do you even know anything about magic? Or construction?” the tiny ice princess asks with clear disdain. Catra has a tendency to forget that she’s there, but it’s a valid question.

“No, not at all. But! It was my mission, it was my plan so I know exactly how I brought the damn thing down. I can ask Entrapta to help me draft up how to fix it and make it stronger.”

Emily, standing near the table as Entrapta’s proxy, suddenly whirs to life. They all look on in horror as she begins to broadcast out a manic giggle. 

“Yes!” Entrapta’s voice booms into the room. “I’ve been  _ waiting _ on someone to ask me about the Sea Gate! I have a number of ideas that can help fortify it. A combination of magic, First Ones tech, and materials from the Fright Zone’s foundry could make it stronger than ever!”

Netossa mumbles, “Did anyone else know she could do that this whole time?”

She takes the responding stunned silence as a no. Catra just takes it in stride. She understands better than anyone how they can’t even begin to grasp Entrapta’s abilities.

“Perfect, ‘Trap,” Catra says, relieved. “Yeah, I need Scorpia to coordinate with the Fright Zone since I’m guessing no one trusts me to do it. Scorpia can help with the building too, lifting things. Oh, and Perfuma can supervise Scorpia lifting things.” 

Perfuma’s eyes widen. “Th- I would love to support however I’m needed. Thank you, Catra.” The princess gives Catra the hugest smile.

Another thought occurs to her. “The Fright Zone can send materials for rebuilding efforts in the towns too, since it’s the least we could do.” Catra shrugs at Mermista. The princess’ face doesn’t change but her eyes seem almost grateful.

Glimmer interrupts their moment. “Why? What are you planning?”

Catra sighs and relaxes back into Adora. “Nothing. Adora said I could help Salineas. It hadn’t occurred to me before that I had anything to offer. But I do know how to break shit so if that’s helpful, might as well use it.”

Mostly, she’s realized that Adora is right. Gaining some goodwill might help her get a bit more freedom around here. Besides, Mermista controls water – that’s a dangerous enemy for a cat to have.

Adora leans down to whisper into Catra's ear, “That’s a great plan. I’m so proud to be your mate.”

Catra’s blushing now in front of these idiots and it’s awful. Begin evasive maneuvers immediately. 

“Anyway, I’ll let you all talk it out.” She starts climbing out of Adora’s lap.

“I officially accept,” Mermista announces. 

Catra freezes. It wasn't supposed to be this easy. These dummies can’t even choose lunch without a heated deliberation.

Most of the room seems fine with Mermista’s decision, the others just watching and waiting for the next move. Queen Glimmer, however, is not having such an easy time. She turns to the Salinean princess with fire in her eyes. 

Deeply unconcerned, Mermista continues before she can speak, “I also formally request that Bright Moon place Catra under Salineas’ care.”

“Same!” Scorpia yells with too much excitement. “Seconded, I mean!”

Glimmer shouts, “I haven’t moved for a vote!”

But each member in turn announces their support. Bow and Perfuma are nearly as excited as Scorpia. It looks like Spinnerella sweet talks Netossa into agreeing. Sea Hawk defers to Mermista’s wisdom and launches into a monologue about her that Frosta has to interrupt in order to say that she thinks this is a terrible idea but Mermista can do whatever she wants with her kingdom. Glimmer just ends up storming out. 

Meeting adjourned apparently.

For the second time today, Adora’s in their room absolutely losing her mind about Mermista and how smart and capable Catra is and how she’s making the plan so much better.

Unlike earlier, Adora seems to be keyed up in a whole nother way. She’s not pacing, which Catra is grateful for. Instead, Adora’s just all over Catra, holding her close, running her arms up and down Catra’s back and shoulders, while gushing about the meeting.

This, weirdly, seems like a good moment to be adventurous. “So, I was good?”

“You were amazing!” Adora squeals. 

Catra raises her eyebrows and tilts her head, encouraging Adora to continue. The princess manages to chill herself a bit. She moves one hand from Catra’s back, up into her mane. 

“You were so good, kitten.”

Catra’s breath hitches so Adora pulls her closer. She’s wearing a bit of a smirk when she asks, “What do you want, Catra?”

“Again,” is all she can whisper.

Adora begins marking her cheeks and throat. “You’re such a good kitten. You were so strong and brave today. You’re doing so well here. I’m so lucky to have you with me.” 

Adora must notice the purr before Catra does because she pulls back to look into her mate’s eyes with a soft, doofy smile. She moves a hand to Catra’s collarbone to feel the vibration like she used to when they were younger. 

“I missed that,” Adora tells her, face all dopey and wistful.

Catra doesn't want to think about how it's been so long that she can't even remember the last time she's really, actually purred (without Adora fucking her silly first, at least.)

“I need to bite you,” Catra blurts out as suddenly as the urge comes. She had had something else in mind, of course, but there’s comfort in trying this again, rather than starting by introducing too many new ideas.

Plus, Catra wants to lead it this time – claim Adora of her own volition. Wants to know that they both fully want it, especially now that they’re aware of the weird baggage it brings.

Adora just nods in response, breath hitching in anticipation.

“Can we try it on the bed though? I almost collapsed last time.” Without waiting for a response, Adora starts leading them over.

“Well, you were also cumming though,” Catra comments, before pausing her movement. “Shit, I think it’ll probably really hurt if you  _ aren’t _ cumming.”

Adora smirks at her. “I think that’s an easy problem for us to solve.”

“Hmm? How?” Catra asks, pretending to be super casual about this whole thing.

Adora flushes all the way down her neck. “Catra, you know.”

She shakes her head. “Nope. If I have to use my words, you can use yours. What do you want me to do?”

Adora groans but Catra imagines it’s really only half-way in exasperation. Adora collects herself, seeming to realize that she’s losing all the power that she had just seconds ago. 

“Kitten,” her voice is just a little demanding, “Do you want to make me cum?”

Instead of answering, Catra sits Adora on the bed. “ _ I _ want you to take your clothes off.”

It’s a good sign, Catra tells herself, that Adora looks a lot less worried than previous times. She’s mostly just at a normal Adora-level of anxiety. She swallows loudly. 

“Would you be okay doing that too?”

Now, Catra's at an Adora-level of anxiety as well. At least they’re in this together, she thinks.

“Do you want that?” Catra asks.

“Yeah, but only if you want it.”

Catra laughs. “I feel like we’re playing a game of chicken right now.”

At first, Adora looks amused too. But then she gets that stupid competitive look in her eyes and starts yanking off her shirt. Not to be outdone, Catra’s pulling hers off. Then they’re in a race to get nude first, with both of them heckling each other about how they’re going to win or how the other’s too slow.

Catra finishes first and dives under the blankets and sheets to cover herself. Adora’s face shows that she hadn’t thought of that. So she’s just standing next to the bed fully undressed.

Catra licks her lips. Cause  _ Gods _ , Adora looks amazing. A far cry from the last time Catra got a good peek in the Fright Zone showers a few years before. She’s filled out with a bit more muscle and Catra's eyes are all over her broad shoulders, firm arms, and thick thighs.

“Get over here, dummy.”

Once Adora lies down next to her, Catra tries to start slow. The battle plan had not accounted for having access to  _ all _ of Adora. 

With just a ghost of a touch, she trails her fingers down Adora’s neck, moving lightly over her chest and abs, and then between her legs. She wants this to last a bit though so she repeats that again, before teasing along Adora’s thighs. It becomes more difficult when Adora whines in frustration and whispers ‘please’. 

Having Adora like that is maybe a bit too much too fast. Catra’s too turned on to think clearly and, against her will, she can feel her claws begin to extend. One manages to graze Adora’s thigh before she can pull away. 

Adora just lets loose a deep moan in response.

“Shit, sorry!” Catra says, already trying to back off.

Adora's flushed, out of breath. It takes her a few moments to get out, “No, that-that felt really really good, kitten. Do it again?” 

Deep relief washes over Catra. Adora's okay, would like more even. It's probably smart to trust that she knows what she wants, right?

Figuring she should start with somewhere safe, Catra tentatively eases her claws into Adora’s hair, scratching lightly at her scalp. Catra’s rewarded with another litany of moans about how good she feels.

Claws ease down Adora’s body, testing sensitivity, getting rougher when urged. When  _ begged to _ . Adora is full-on  _ pleading _ after a short while and Catra has never felt more powerful in her entire fucking life.

She has to take a breath to calm herself and retract her claws before moving her hand gently down between Adora’s legs.

“Hold on,” Adora interrupts. Before Catra can start to pull away in full-blown panic, Adora literally  _ picks _ her up and straddles Catra across her thigh. “I just want to feel you while you do this. You always feel so good, kitten.”

Trying to focus on her task and  _ not _ on grinding herself all over Adora, Catra reaches back down again, very lightly making contact with Adora’s clit. Adora’s hand flies to her ass, massaging her bottom and the base of her tail. At this rate, she’s worried she might cum before Adora does.

Again, Catra tries to ease into it, just making lazy circles around Adora’s clit with one finger, trying to remember what she usually enjoys when she touches herself. It then occurs to Catra that she’ll probably definitely be thinking of  _ this _ the next time she’s alone and she starts to pick up speed.

“There you go, kitten,” Adora encourages, breathily. “Just like that.”

Catra moves her free hand back to Adora’s hair, tangling and pulling. Adora’s hips pick up, grinding down into Catra’s hand.

“You can put a finger inside me. If you want,” Adora murmurs. Only she would still be this shy and patient with Catra while getting fucked.

“What do  _ you _ want, princess?” Catra returns, while slowing the movement on Adora’s clit to a torturous crawl.

Adora practically growls. “Don’t stop!” Catra just pulls her hair again. “ _ Please _ , Catra? I need you inside me. I want to be yours.”

Catra’s too turned on to make fun of Adora for being needy, but she reserves the right to do so later. Without hesitation, she easily slips a finger inside of Adora and angles her thumb to keep pressure on her mate’s clit.

Adora unleashes a slew of cusses, before sighing, “How are you so good at this?!”

Catra isn’t sure if she’s good or they both just don’t know enough to have higher expectations. But she’s also surprised and proud of how she’s making Adora feel right now. She focuses on building the tension, trying to keep a steady rhythm, until Adora’s whole body is starting to go taut. 

She moves her mouth to Adora’s neck in anticipation and the second her lips brush near the mark, Adora is groaning and cumming all over her fingers. Catra bites more gently than the first time, her need to claim Adora partially sated by being inside of her.

As Adora comes down, eyes closed and a soft, dazed smile on her face, Catra realizes she can’t wait. It’s rude and insensitive, she knows. But she’s never been this turned on in her life and she might die of horniness by the time Adora recovers. 

She gently pulls out of Adora and, for a moment, she sees disappointment in the girl's flushed face. When Catra grabs Adora’s limp right hand, straightens her middle and ring fingers, and slips them into her pussy, that look melts into renewed pleasure. Or, Catra thinks it does. She pretty much has to immediately slam her eyes shut because of how godsdamn good and full she feels for the first time. 

“Fuck, Adora,” she hisses.

The princess doesn’t even have a chance to catch up before Catra’s grinding and rolling her hips all over Adora’s fingers, angling the palm to rub across her clit. For some reason, Catra imagined it would take longer, but it’s just a few scant minutes before she’s moaning out her climax, digging her claws into Adora’s forearm.

She drops to the bed like a stone, eyes still closed and catching her breath.

Adora just chuckles, “You really couldn’t wait for me? It’s not a race, kitten.”

Catra’s lucky that her fur hides her blush. “Yeah, well, I won 2 out of 2 so.” 

Adora pulls her into her arms and holds her close, hands greedily exploring everywhere she can reach. Catra wants to ask if Adora’s satisfied, if she enjoyed herself, if she’s actually attracted to Catra and not grossed out by all the things Catra hates about herself and her body. Adora doesn’t need that kind of power over her, though.

“Um,” Adora begins shyly. Catra opens her eyes slowly to find Adora looking quite bashful, eyes lowered. “Sorry I...took so long. During and after.”

Catra chuckles huskily. “Are you fucking kidding me?” 

When it becomes clear that Adora’s still embarrassed, Catra forces herself to be honest and say, “You were good. You took a perfectly normal amount of time, princess. That’s not something we need to put pressure on ourselves about. I just got...worked up from watching it and biting you. Mate stuff, you know? I’ll make it up to you next time.”

It’s not even that late but Catra’s exhausted by the physical exertion and having to almost be emotionally vulnerable to save this dummy from spiraling. No, Catra will absolutely not be telling Adora how much she enjoyed this. The fool can figure that out for herself if she cares that much.

As she starts to drift off to sleep, she hears Adora whisper, “ _ Gods _ , we get to do that  _ again _ ?”. Then even quieter, “I should make a battle plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catra always passes out afterwards cause cat. That's my excuse for everything.
> 
> Next week? A favorite of mine. Three infamous characters appear for the first time. Though, maybe one was with us all along?


	7. Did You Just Shoot Shadow Weaver in the Fucking Face to Defend My Honor?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Who am I kidding? I’m going to eat you alive.”
> 
> A return in three acts: The Bedroom, The Woods, and The War Room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A rare Monday posting! It's a holiday (where I am) and Black joy and Black-created art are the excuses I'm going with. ("art" is a real loose term for what is basically 1/3 smut but whatever)
> 
> So much appreciation to everyone for reading and engaging but especially for the folks who left such kind affirmations for the smut last chapter. I didn't realize I was nervous about that until it was live and then I was all "oh, shit..."
> 
> **Warning** \- an actual appearance from Shadow Weaver who is being very awful because she doesn't know the name of this chapter yet. There's some mild physical violence and plenty of verbal abuse.
> 
> This chap begins with explicit content right off the bat. There's magic involved and you've read enough She-Ra smut to know what that usually means, I bet. Also, there's some **mating-related** pieces to it (and a brief discussion of heat) that might not be for everyone. If you want to skip, jump down to "What the fuck is a Razz?"
> 
> Also, Razz is here cause I couldn't resist.

They’d passed out naked the night before, exhausted from a long day of princess meetings about the Salineas plan and training. Mostly the training, which had gotten heated and ended with Catra fucking Adora on the mat and then once again when they made it back to their room. Catra had woken with Adora all over her, marking her cheeks and neck and begging Catra to ride her.

So, Catra doesn’t really understand what the fuck’s happening now. She’s straddled over Adora, riding the girl’s fingers as requested. Adora, though, is lacking her typical exuberance and need to please, which really isn’t doing it for Catra. The princess is going through the motions, mostly giving half-ass thrusts with her eyes glazed over in thought. Catra’s forced to bounce herself on Adora’s hand, while the dummy is being absolutely no help. 

"Princess!” Catra hisses. “Can you focus? I'm doing some of my best work up here." She flexes her claws and lets them very lightly scratch Adora’s wrist.

That seems to snap her out of it, training her attention back on her mate.

“Sorry, kitten.” Adora says genuinely, moving her thumb to gently rub Catra’s clit.

It feels amazing. But Catra’s never stood for being ignored by Adora. She crosses her arms and pouts for a second. Adora just smiles and licks her lips suggestively. 

That’s not good enough. Catra narrows her eyes in response, before attempting to dismount. Finally jumping into action, Adora sits up and wraps her free arm about Catra’s waist, hand landing on her mate’s back to lock her in place.

“I’m sorry, kitten,” Adora repeats, staring into Catra’s eyes.

Catra has to look away to hide her growing panic. “If you don’t want to fuck me, it’s fine, Adora. Not a big deal.” 

The arm around her waist tightens.

“I _love_ fucking you,” Adora says. 

Her eyes drop from Catra’s face to her lips, then her chest. Catra arches her back, hoping Adora catches the hint. As usual, she doesn’t, glancing down to where her fingers disappear inside her mate. 

“You’re so fucking sexy.”

Catra is not impressed. “Keep going.”

Adora laughs. “You’re so gorgeous. And soft.” She pushes her fingers deeper inside Catra. “You feel so fucking good. So wet for me. Hmm, did you get wet just for me?”

Reluctantly, Catra rolls her hips again, pushing to take more of Adora.

“Do you like how I fill you up?”

“Fuck yes,” Catra moans.

“What to know what I was just thinking about?”

Catra does not but she nods anyway. She'd rather that Adora focus on the literal task at hand.

“I was thinking of how I could fill you up more.”

Catra moans again. “Yeah? How?”

Adora uses her arm around Catra's waist to still her hips. 

“I've been trying to see if I could will She-Ra to come back. Or at least some of her power, without the sword.”

“Ugh. Can you not talk about She-Ra when you're inside of me please?”

“It's relevant!” Adora says. “There's still a connection there. I can feel it. I've been able to do some things lately when training, like access some of her strength and endurance.”

“ _That_ I could be interested in,” Catra responds with a smirk. “What else?”

Adora's face turns red. “The other day I was... _thinking_...about you. About things I'd like to do to you.” 

Gods, something about that phrasing. Adora's thumb goes back to Catra's clit and she nearly shudders from the contact. 

This is new, Adora taking the lead like this or voicing any kind of want. Catra's immediately lost in it.

“I really like everything we do, honestly,” Adora continues, “but I want to be able to feel you differently. Hold you differently. _Take_ you differently.” 

“Fuck, Adora,” Catra breathes out, near-delirious. “Show me.”

As soon as Adora removes her hand, the veil is lifted and Catra becomes wary of what she just agreed to. She trusts Adora ( _maybe_ ) but She-Ra? Not so much. Adora wants something though. Wants it with _Catra_ , which she’s trying to pretend isn’t a big deal to her. She'd give anything to Adora. She's also super super horny so that helps.

Adora closes her eyes to concentrate for a few moments. Catra shows a shocking amount of maturity and doesn't heckle her at all. 

Then Adora starts to glow, just a little. It’s a faint gold essence or some shit that surrounds her and Catra has to take some steadying breaths to remember that not all magic is inherently evil.

The glow fades but Catra can feel that _something’s_ different now. At first, it’s just a little poke down by her thigh. But slowly, the pressure builds and Catra glances down to see that Adora has manifested a pretty realistic-looking penis between her legs. It's proportionate to the blonde’s body so it's not huge, but it'll definitely still be the largest thing Catra's ever had inside of herself. It's got a good thickness and a bit of a curve upwards. 

“What do you think?” Adora asks nervously. 

Catra's probably been having a staring contest with this cock for too long.

“What do you want to do with it?” She's pretty sure she knows but what a fucking _thrill_ it would be to hear Adora say it out loud.

Adora, of course, gets a bit shy. It shouldn't be cute yet somehow it is. 

“Um, well, assuming you're into it. Which, I mean, you don't have to be. That's fine too-”

“Adora. What do you want to do to me?” Catra interrupts.

“I want to fuck you?”

Catra's...interested. Open to it. But would still like to hear more. 

“How?”

“With my cock?”

“Are you asking or telling me?”

Adora frowns. Catra raises her eyebrows. They’re in a standoff for a bit before Adora cracks.

“Kitten,” her hands go to Catra’s hips in a firm grip, “I want to fuck you with my cock. I want to feel you cum while I’m inside of you. But I want you to be honest and tell me if you want that.”

Catra glances down at it again. It’s a bit intimidating but the thought of Adora fantasizing about her has Catra more than wet enough to take it. She moves her hand to the base of the cock, taking it in a loose grip and lazily strokes up to the tip, just trying to get a feel for it. She’s surprised that it genuinely feels like Adora’s warm, soft skin. She’s more surprised when Adora moans.

“You can feel that?” 

Without waiting for an answer, Catra strokes her again. When Adora pushes her hips for more, Catra tightens her grip and starts jerking her off in earnest. Adora moans deep in her throat, pulling Catra closer. 

Yeah, Catra decides, this is fucking hot. She lifts herself up on her knees, hovering over the cock. 

“Are you ready?”

“Actually,” Adora says breathlessly. “Can I be a bit more in charge? I promise to still do whatever you want.” 

Yes, Catra likes all of those words and would like to hear them again and often. 

“No teasing, though,” she warns.

“Maybe _some_ teasing,” Adora says, smirking like an asshole. “I know you secretly like that part the most.”

It’s awful how well they know each other. 

“We’ll see how you like it,” Catra promises, already planning her revenge for whatever slick shit Adora’s going to try. She finds herself getting entirely too excited at the possibilities that Adora’s new toy opens up for them. 

“Gods, you’re gonna make my next heat probably survivable.” She cackles, thinking about how insatiable she gets during that time. “Who am I kidding? I’m going to eat you alive.”

“Should we talk about that?” Adora questions. “I’ve read some but I want to know what to expect from you.”

“Nah, we have more pressing issues,” Catra replies, rubbing the head of Adora’s cock against her clit softly. “My heat’s not for months. We’ll figure it out by then.” 

She almost panics when she realizes what she just said. Catra’s planning on being with Adora for months? Nah, she’s probably just already dick drunk.

“Maybe we should still practice,” Adora says suggestively. And Catra’s going to have to take a shower afterwards because the fur between her legs and on her inner thighs is absolutely soaked. “Do you want that?”

“You can still cum with that thing?”

“I haven't gotten that far by myself,” Adora answers. “But you have no idea how much I want to try it with you.”

“Yeah? You want to cum in me?” Her voice comes out so low that Adora throbs in her hand.

Catra moves the cock a bit lower, teasing at her entrance. Adora nods, eyes locked on their nearly-adjoining laps.

“Promise you won’t cum until I tell you to?”

“I promise,” Adora says quickly. Catra’s pretty sure she’d promise literally anything right now.

Catra gracefully flings herself onto her back next to Adora and gets comfortable. 

“Fuck me,” barely escapes her lips before Adora is on top of her and pushing inside.

Adora, ever the gentlewoman, is moving achingly slow, easing inch-by-inch into Catra. Sadly, that just won’t do. 

Catra unsheathes her claws and lightly scratches down Adora’s chest and nipples. That spurs Adora into action, slamming her hips all the way home.

“Yes!” Catra screams. 

Above her, she sees how Adora throws her head back, eyes closing and neck muscles flexing like being inside Catra feels so good that it hurts. Her tail wraps around Adora’s thigh, begging her to keep going.

They fumble a bit at first. Adora struggles to find a rhythm and Catra constantly arching up to meet her seems to throw her off. Catra doesn’t care at all. She’s so deliciously full. Watching Adora’s arms and abs work to hold herself up is driving her wild. As much as she’d love to be on top, taking exactly what she wants, this is worth it.

“Kitten,” Adora moans. “This feels fucking amazing. Are you okay?”

Catra nods, pulling Adora closer, desperately needing to feel her all over. “Touch me.”

Adora shifts to put all of her weight on her left side, forearm flat on the bed. Her right hand flies down to begin rubbing Catra’s clit, thrusts starting to steady out. 

She moves her mouth down to Catra’s ear, whispering a litany of absolutely sinful praise until Catra quickly cums with a scream that breaks off into a near-sob.

Adora stills completely for a moment. When Catra opens her eyes, Adora is taking big gulping breaths and gritting her teeth in concentration, seeming to try to will herself not to finish too early.

“Good girl,” Catra purrs. “Cause we’re definitely not done. That was just a warm-up. Do you want to flip me over?”

Adora moans a curse and pulls out gently. Thankfully, there’s nothing gentle at all about the way she grabs Catra and _hauls_ her over onto her stomach. Catra tries to get into position on her hands and knees. Before she can, Adora firmly pins her flat against the bed and straddles her thighs, shoving her cock back inside. Catra screams so loudly that she’s pretty sure anyone who isn’t awake in the castle definitely is now.

“Fuck yes, princess! Destroy that pussy.”

Adora dutifully throws herself into the task. One hand wraps around Catra’s shoulder while the other goes to the base of her tail. Catra’s never had back-to-back orgasms before, but it’s not long before she realizes that that is definitely gonna happen today.

It’s just so good. Adora trying to fucking pound her into the mattress. The blonde moving on top of her like a wild animal, frantically whirring in and out of her. Hands all over Catra, grabbing her shoulder, her neck, her mane, her tail. Thinking about Adora, pure sweet Adora, being sullied by her, losing control and cumming inside her. Tidy, well-disciplined Adora making a mess in her.

“Fuck, Adora!” Catra screams again, that last image nearly pushing her over the edge. She can feel how she’s tightening around Adora’s cock. “Don’t stop.”

Adora grunts like that’s the last thing she’d ever want to do. Her movements get more tense, signaling she’s as close as Catra.

“You can cum for me now, baby,” Catra commands. She hesitates for a moment before adding, “ _Breed_ me.”

Adora leans down, planting kisses on her mate’s neck while her hand weaves down between Catra and the mattress, finding her clit. 

The cat can barely take anymore. Having Adora like this triggers something deep in her, something she desperately needs quenched right now.

Catra bares her neck. 

“Claim me,” she barely gets out around a moan. “ _Please_ , Adora.”

The thrusts pick up, turning so deep and fast that Catra knows she’s going to be sore for a good while after this. Then Adora bites down hard and groans and Catra’s screaming out her second orgasm.

Adora collapses all of her weight onto Catra, trying to catch her breath. Catra wraps both of the girl’s arms around her to ground herself as the aftershocks continue to rip through her. The only sounds in the room are the two of them panting so when Catra’s purr starts, it’s as loud as Entrapta’s buzzsaw bots.

“That good, huh?” Adora asks. 

Catra shifts to glance back at her and Adora’s wearing her stupid smug smirk. But her eyes are still closed, her face is flushed, and she looks like she ran a mile before getting the fuck of her life.

“Please,” Catra scoffs. “You look like I just blew your fucking mind.”

“Both can be true,” Adora chuckles. “Feeling appropriately destroyed?”

“Meh,” Catra shrugs, like that wasn’t the most intense experience of her life. Or, like, non-war-related experience. She rubs her throat, feeling the new mark.

Adora just laughs fondly. “Tough crowd. So, uh.” Catra knows what’s coming. She can already feel herself turning red in anticipation. “Breeding. Bite thing?” 

“Definitely a bite thing,” Catra lies, as if she hasn’t touched herself over a dozen times while thinking of Adora cumming inside of her. It usually involved more suspension of disbelief, something her research had taught her called ‘strapping’, and a lot less She-Ra, though. 

Catra unconsciously tightens once again around Adora’s cock, another aftershock hitting her as she thinks about how much better this was than her fantasies. 

Adora groans again and her hips jerk to push deeper inside. Thinking better of it, she sighs and pulls out slowly. Catra expects her to join her on the bed but instead she feels Adora’s fingers teasing around her entrance.

“Round 3?” she calls over her shoulder. “You’re gonna have to give me a minute.” Catra doesn’t really have any feeling in her legs right now honestly.

“Nothing came out,” is all Adora says, sounding disappointed. 

Catra flips over onto her back to see her better.

“Of that?” Catra asks, motioning towards Adora’s still-hard cock. “Did you expect it to?”

Adora just shrugs but she still looks a little let down.

“Are you sure? Cause it feels really wet down there.”

Adora blushes a little. “No, that’s all you.” Catra shifts a bit and the bed is definitely very, very soaked. As soon as she frowns, Adora rushes out, “I think it’s hot. I like being able to really see how satisfied you are, how much you’re into me.”

Adora moves to lay down next to her, while Catra thinks that over. It’s kinda embarrassing, having no control like that. But Adora likes order so much that it’s fun, another way that Catra tosses chaos into her life. She can live with this. She’s not sure, however, if she can live with Adora thinking that Catra actually _wants_ her or anything.

“That doesn’t mean I like you,” she clarifies quickly. “I still hate you.”

“Thank the Gods,” Adora chuckles. “You hadn’t reminded me in awhile. I was starting to worry that you were sick or something.” 

But Adora’s arm goes around Catra’s shoulder and she pulls her mate on top of her, cradling Catra to her chest.

When Catra glances down at Adora’s lap, the cock is gone. “It just disappears?”

Adora shrugs, running her fingers through Catra’s hair. “I guess. I don’t know how these things work. I couldn’t ask Light Hope even if I hadn't destroyed the sword and lost access to her. That would be horrifying. _Razz_ is deeply out of the question.”

“What the fuck is a Razz?”

Even though Catra insists that she can literally not walk after what Adora did to her, Adora carries her to the shower, bathes them both, and dresses them in Adora’s clothes. Catra’s own clothing showed up a couple days ago but she hung up her Commander uniforms and hid all of the casual items until she could give them to Sea Hawk to burn. He didn’t even ask why.

Adora thinks it’s ridiculous that Catra hasn’t met Madame Razz before and wants to remedy that immediately. Catra tries asking more questions but Adora’s too excited to make any sense right now.

Catra still doesn’t have permission to leave the castle freely, outside of their upcoming Salineas mission, so they’re forced to sneak out. Or, rather Adora and her _extremely loud flying horse_ walk right out the front door and Catra uses the spectacle to slip out of Bright Moon and to the edge of the Whispering Woods. Adora meets her there and the three walk for a bit, Swift Wind loudly giving updates about his life, until they stop at a small hut.

“Razz!” Swift Wind screams, which makes no sense to Catra cause they’re about to walk through the door anyway. Inside, there’s a tiny, impossibly old lady muttering to herself and moving about quickly.

When she sees Adora, she brightens and yells, “Mara, dearie! You’ve returned to see old Razz. You’re just in time for pie.” 

Catra glances around. If there was pie, she would have smelled it halfway through the woods.

“Hey, Razz!” Adora’s so precious that she doesn’t complain that this person clearly does not know who the hell she is. “Yeah, I came to say hello. I want you to meet my mate. This is Catra.” 

Adora shoves Catra in front of the old lady and beams.

“Oh. _You_ ,” Razz frowns. 

Catra would like to know what her fucking problem is. 

Then Razz smiles and begins flitting around again, telling them, “No matter. There’s enough for everyone.”

Catra raises an eyebrow at Adora who just shrugs. She keeps smiling but her eyes are panicked. So far, no one seems to approve of this relationship and that must be a waking nightmare for a people pleaser like Adora. Well, Sea Hawk approves but that’s basically worthless cause it’s Sea Hawk.

Razz serves them empty plates. “There you go, dearies.” 

With his face shoved in the window, Catra can see how disappointed Swift Wind looks. He grumbles about going to find apples in the forest to eat instead and takes off.

Adora’s smile grows more frantic. “Uh, Razz, I, um, think-”

“Hey lady, where’s the pie?” Catra interrupts.

The old bitty just laughs in their faces. 

“You didn’t come here for _pie_ ,” she responds, like they’re the idiots here. “You came to ask Razz about She-Ra.”

“No, I came under great duress,” Catra says. She doesn’t like this game.

“She-Ra’s gone,” Adora mutters, sadly. “Remember I destroyed the sword, Razz?”

The old woman laughs again. “Mara, you know She-Ra isn’t a sword.” 

And then she disappears quickly out the door. Adora rushes to follow. Catra, who wants none of this She-Ra bullshit, just stands there. 

She peeks around the little hut. There’s lots of jars and junk. How long has this person been living alone out here in the Whispering Woods? She feels like magic, but more like Micah and Adora than Shadow Weaver. It’s purer. Kinda like the woods themselves but less creepy and murder-y. Catra pops the cold oven open and there is indeed a full pie inside.

The Commander wanders outside to see what the other two weirdos are up to, eating pie straight out of the pan with her claws. 

A little further up ahead, Adora and Razz are both on their knees with their hands pressed against the ground. Catra has to swivel her ears to hear but Razz is explaining that She-Ra is Etheria's protector and existed long before the First Ones. She talks a lot about the magic in Etheria but little of it makes sense to Catra. She doesn’t understand Adora’s need to take advice from literally anyone she stumbles upon. Is she that desperate for affirmation?

Razz asks Adora to think of what she’s fighting for, before she scurries into the woods without waiting for an answer. For some reason, Adora stays on the ground, concentrating. Catra hopes this doesn’t take long because the pie is good but seriously, after getting fucked like that earlier, she needs a full meal and a nap.

Adora’s starts muttering to herself about peace and hope and justice and the Rebellion.

“No, no!” Razz yells. 

Catra yelps in surprise. She can’t see or smell the old loon anywhere. 

“You must go deeper, Mara, dearie!” 

But the sound of her mate’s voice must catch Adora’s attention cause now her eyes are trained on Catra, who just gives a small wave and points at the pie. Maybe she should head back. This isn’t really her scene.

Adora closes her eyes and begins concentrating again. Catra can hear her quietly whispering to herself, “Catra. Etheria matters most because Catra’s here. I want to protect Catra.” 

Slowly, the ground around Adora’s hand seems to come alive with movement, grass and flowers sprouting up. Adora herself begins to glow a bright gold, like earlier in their bedroom but fuller and deeper. Even from afar, Catra can feel the pure power emanating from the blonde. 

Adora raises her hand and the sword appears out of thin air, apparently willed back into existence by her.

Catra had naturally hoped to never see She-Ra again. The stupid giant was the entire cause of her and Adora not being able to be together. Worse, it was a physical manifestation of how much more fucking _special_ Adora was than her. A reminder of how Catra wasn’t good enough for the one person she’d spent her entire life in lo-

“Ah, there it is,” Razz whispers. 

Catra jumps nearly a foot in the air, tail going stick straight, cause the old kook is suddenly standing not 4 inches behind her. Razz doesn’t give a solitary shit about her alarm and just smiles.

The Commander looks back at Adora, practicing making the sword disappear and reappear, just mumbling about Catra. 

“I guess the dick thing totally makes sense now,” she murmurs.

But Razz fucking _one-ups_ her, when she nods and says sagely, “I guess it does, doesn’t it?” 

Cause _what_?

When Catra sneaks back into their room after that deeply confusing adventure, she’s greeted seconds later by Adora coming through the door at the same time Glimmer teleports in unannounced. 

“Good, you’re both here and dressed,” Glimmer comments, looking at them both pointedly. “We’re having a castle meeting.” 

She teleports over to Catra, grabs her hand, teleports them both over to Adora, grabs _her_ hand, and teleports all three of them into the dining room. Three jumps in a row is definitely way too much for Catra and she falls to the ground as soon as they land. Adora has to pick her up to get her into a chair.

Around the table, Micah, Scorpia, Glimmer, and Bow are already seated. Adora sits in the chair next to Catra, but she’s feeling awful and vulnerable from all the teleporting, so she jumps into Adora’s lap and settles in. Glimmer nearly screams.

“Hey, everyone,” Adora starts casually. “What’s this about? Updates on the trial?”

“No!” Glimmer yells in frustration. “This about decency!”

Micah awkwardly clears this throat. “We thought it would be a good idea to have a quick talk about boundaries.”

“And sound!” Glimmer adds. “All of the sounds!”

Adora turns so red so fast that Catra accidentally giggles out loud.

“Aw, Wildcat,” Scorpia coos. “Are you _purring_? That’s so precious.” 

Whoops. Catra hadn’t noticed that at all.

“Don’t encourage this!” Glimmer screams again. But Scorpia and Bow are still making heart eyes at them.

“We are all adults,” Micah begins, ignoring everyone else. “Intimacy is important in healthy relationships.” 

“There’s nothing healthy about this,” Glimmer mumbles. 

Catra rolls her eyes. Glitter needs to fucking get laid herself.

The King continues, “But we could all be more aware about the others living in the cast-”

“Ah, you started without me.” 

All of the fur on Catra’s body stands up at once. She has to fight the urge to jump on the table, raise her hackles, and hiss when she senses, rather than actually even sees, Shadow Weaver float into the room.

Under her, Adora goes stiff as a board. Both of her arms circle Catra and tighten around her protectively. Catra isn’t sure if Adora knows that she’s started to growl quietly. 

No one looks particularly happy to see the sorceress. Glimmer’s probably the least bothered but it’s clear that Shadow Weaver gives Bow and Scorpia the fucking creeps. 

Micah, though, has the reaction that interests Catra the most. Aside from her, he seems the angriest – eyes narrowing, jaw tightening, hand balled into a fist. Dude must have a shit ton of power cause Catra can feel it coming off of him in waves now for the first time.

When she reaches the center of the room, Catra notices that Shadow Weaver looks a lot older and more frail than when she last saw her, crouched in a cell in the Fright Zone. Behind her mask, her eyes widen when she sees Catra and Adora so close. It settles in her for a moment before her face fills with absolute disgust.

Catra wills herself to relax. The old bitch can’t hurt her anymore, doesn’t have power over her anymore. Catra has everything she wants – she’s in charge of the Horde, no one’s trying to overtly kill her, and Adora dotes on her so completely that it makes Glimmer physically ill. Shadow Weaver has no magic, no power, and has to live with a bunch of goody two-shoes that she clearly hates. 

Catra won. She wants to rub it in just a bit though. And Catra must admit she's always loved a captive audience.

With Shadow Weaver glaring at her, Catra tilts her head back towards Adora and whispers (but, intentionally, not _really_ ), “It’s okay, baby.” 

For the first time, she marks Adora, rubbing her scent along the princess’ cheek and neck with a content purr. Catra's a little surprised by how genuine this all feels for her.

“Adora,” Shadow Weaver calls out. She’s practically vibrating with rage. “I expected this _abhorrent_ animal behavior from Catra but I had hoped that you were above these... _urges_.”

Wherever Shadow Weaver is staying, it’s not anywhere near their room or else Catra would have sensed her before. That definitely means that the entire castle is now aware of how Catra sounds when she orgasms. She positively _trills_ at the thought of everyone knowing that Adora is hers now, which just makes Shadow Weaver even angrier.

“This isn’t helping,” Micah sighs. “Shadow Weaver, you are not a part of this conversation.”

“And we’re not judging,” Bow clarifies. “We all want Catra and Adora to be happy.” Catra’s pretty sure that Glimmer mumbles ‘speak for yourself.’ “We also just want them to be a little quieter.”

“Adora will never be happy until she fulfills her true purpose,” Shadow Weaver bellows. Catra wonders if their mentor was always this much of a joke and she was just too afraid of her to notice. “Adora, I raised you for greatness. Not to _debase_ yourself with trash. You’ll be lucky if _fleas_ are the worst thing you contract from her.”

Catra sits up and hisses at Shadow Weaver as Adora growls, “Don’t talk about _my mate_ like that.” Shadow Weaver startles at that. “My whole life, I’ve let you treat Catra like this because I was afraid of you and too young to realize how toxic and hateful you were. But I’m not going to stand here and let that happen to her again.”

It’s years late, but _fuck_ , this helps sew something deep in Catra back together. 

“Catra is meaningless. I’ve never understood what enchanted you so much about her.” Glimmer hums quietly in agreement. ‘You and me both, buddy’, Catra thinks. And then gets super upset with herself for agreeing with Shadow Weaver. 

“Catra has more power than you’ve ever had,” Adora says, her voice calm and dangerous. Briefly, Catra thinks about what it could have been like if Adora had stayed and become Commander with her. But that means everyone in this room would most likely be dead, which is a shame cause Bow really is the best. “Catra is a brilliant strategist, an amazing leader, and someone who understands how to see people for who they are, not just what power they can give to her.”

“Catra is a disgusting beast who has held you back your entire life!” She turns to Catra. “I should have put you down when you were a cub. The world is that much worse off because you remain in it.”

Catra feels the air shift again, right before Shadow Weaver raises her hand. She suspected the old bat had a little bit of juice left in the tank, maybe for another emergency escape like the one that almost led to Catra being banished to Beast Island. 

She immediately leaps to her feet for a fight, Adora jumping up right after her. As Shadow Weaver raises her hand, a flicker of purple magic gleams. Catra is shoved behind Adora, the blonde already raising her hand in defense, her eyes going bright blue. Their former guardian draws a purple circle in the air and the rest of the idiots finally catch on and spring into action, moving into defensive crouches.

Before Shadow Weaver can close her weird magic circle though, Adora growls in a rage and a white wave, encased in gold, flies from her palm and directly into Shadow Weaver’s mask. The sorcerer is lifted up into the air by the blast, landing several feet from where she previously stood. Out cold.

All focus is on Adora now, everyone mostly confused. Her eyes stop glowing as soon as she realizes what just happened and immediately winces with embarrassment. 

“Sorry!”

Catra grabs her by the shoulders and whirls Adora around to face her, barely able to fucking contain herself. 

"Did you just shoot Shadow Weaver in the fucking _face_ to defend my honor?" 

When the princess just grimaces like she made a mistake, Catra leaps onto her gleefully, the sudden force causing them both to tumble onto the floor. 

Cackling, Catra promises, “My _Gods_ , Adora. You can literally do anything you want to me tonight.”

That seems to knock everyone else out of their shock. There’s a collective ‘ew’ from the peanut gallery. On the other side of the room, Shadow Weaver groans loudly. Such a shame that the blast and the fall didn’t kill her.

Glimmer goes to check on her, while Bow comments, still processing, “She-Ra’s back?”

Adora picks herself up and gives Catra a hand. “Maybe? I’ve been trying some...stuff.” She blushes all over again. 

“Oh,” Scorpia says simply. She’s even redder than usual, which makes Catra wonder how close Scorpia’s room is to theirs and the likelihood of specific things she might have heard earlier.

Glimmer lets out a weird moan, grabbing all of their attention. From her position on the floor, Shadow Weaver is holding the Queen’s hand. They’re both just beginning to glow purple as Shadow Weaver suddenly hovers upright, full strength restored. Catra remembers when they broke into the Fright Zone together, pulling this trick.

“We have to separate them,” she whispers to Adora. “Cover me.”

Bow and Micah call out to Glimmer, who’s shivering and losing consciousness already as power is seeped from her. Shadow Weaver’s got nothing left to lose. Glimmer will be lucky if she isn’t completely drained to death while the sorcerer takes her final stand.

“You ruin everything you touch!” Shadow Weaver bellows. “Everything I have worked to build!”

As the first tendrils of dark magic fly, Bow takes aim directly at the sorceress with an arrow while Micah begins to draw runes. Adora concentrates on accessing her She-Ra magic or whatever, as Catra sneaks off to the side, sticking to the shadows. Scorpia seems to notice her and drifts in the opposite direction, breaking a part of the large marble dining room table with her pincers and launching it at Shadow Weaver.

“Try not to hit Glimmer please!” Bow shouts.

Shadow Weaver pays them no mind, eyes surveying the room for any sign of Catra.

“Why are you protecting this nuisance?! She’s not fit to even breath Adora’s air.”

Micah intervenes to exchange blows with Shadow Weaver, as Catra sneaks a little closer. Suddenly, shadows slip from the wall and grab her around the legs. Catra tries not to panic, flashing back to a childhood full of dark magic being wielded as a casual punishment.

A monstrous voice whispers, “You will no longer be an embarrassment to me.”

As the shadows begin to slowly move up her body, consuming her and holding her in place, Catra hears Adora let out an anguished scream. Adora leaps into the air towards Shadow Weaver, transforming into She-Ra along the way. Catra’s never appreciated the 8-foot tall abomination but she’s relieved as hell to see her right now. 

When Adora lands, she’s a couple feet away from Shadow Weaver and bringing her sword down on the sorcerer’s head. The shadows confining Catra retreat and move to shield their conjurer from the incoming attack just in time.

“Adora, you must face reason,” Shadow Weaver pleads, voice straining with the force of the fight. “I’ve done all of this for you.”

“You only care about yourself,” Adora responds, attacking again. “Don’t blame me for how much _you_ fucked us both up.”

Catra uses the distraction to launch herself into the rafters and race the rest of the way across the room. Bow must catch sight of her because his next arrow is a smoke bomb, which provides some light cover. Silently, Catra leaps for Shadow Weaver all four sets of claws fully extended.

It comes to her suddenly. Just the weirdest quick thought, almost not even a conscious feeling. 

_She can’t kill Shadow Weaver_. 

She has to aim to hurt, not execute. Shadow Weaver’s tortured Catra her entire life, crushed her into the mess that she is now. The mess she’ll probably be forever. But the last thing she can do with these claws – the ones that take care of Adora, please Adora, steal pies from old ladies – is take another life. It’s not worth it to punish Shadow Weaver and it’s not even her decision to make. She just needs to save Glimmer’s life. Catra can’t let another person die. She can’t be the evil that Shadow Weaver taught her to be.

Claws dig into the sorcerer’s shoulder and arm, intentionally missing major arteries and dragging across the back of Shadow Weaver’s body as the force from Catra’s landing drops her to the floor. The blood-curdling scream almost makes her go pale as the sorcerer releases Glimmer’s hand to reach for her own back. 

Without Shadow Weaver’s support, Glimmer immediately goes limp and collapses to the floor in an exhausted heap. Catra’s able to scoop up the now-unconscious queen, tuck her, and flip back to King Micah. 

Scorpia throws another table, narrowly missing She-Ra who has turned her sword into a rope and is dumbly trying to lasso Shadow Weaver. Maybe she’s just out of practice. Micah disengages to pull Glimmer behind a chair to safety.

“She needs to go to the Moon Stone,” he explains to Catra.

“I’ll take her,” Bow yells as he races over. 

Feeling no longer needed, Catra launches herself back into the fight.

Shadow Weaver can only use one hand now but she’s still managing to hold off Scorpia and She-Ra. Scorpia misses a wide swing with her tail and Shadow Weaver uses the opening to knock the girl back a few feet and onto the ground.

Catra, racing towards them, shouts, “Scorp’, boost!” 

The former Force Captain leaps back to her feet, intertwining her pincers quickly. Catra uses Scorpia’s claws as a foothold while the big bug launches her into the air towards Shadow Weaver.

She-Ra gives up on the rope and just goes for a dirty kidney punch. Catra’s proud that she taught her that one. 

With Shadow Weaver distracted, Catra extends her hand, flying into the sorceress and slamming her head into the heavy marble behind them. As Catra lands, She-Ra is finally able to secure Shadow Weaver in the rope, which doesn’t really matter, cause she falls to the floor, knocked out cold again.

Catra’s kinda in shock after that. Bright Moon guards enter, alerted by Bow and Micah. The king has a bunch of other magic people join him to deal with Shadow Weaver, as Scorpia directs Catra and She-Ra out of the room. 

The rest of the Alliance is in the war room and Catra soon realizes: they had not been forced to come to that awkward ‘castle meeting’; they had no idea of the fight that was happening down the hall until Bow told them; and they had definitely all also heard Catra and Adora having sex earlier, based on the blushes, awkward stares, and many horrifying things Mermista and Netossa say out loud.

Mostly, though, everyone is super worried about Glimmer and extremely excited to see She-Ra again. Scorpia, Adora, and Catra only have a few short moments to let everything sink in. The princesses quickly move from how Glimmer will be okay once she connects to the Moonstone to how amazing it is to have She-Ra back after they’d thought they’d lost her forever. 

“Meh,” Catra interrupts. “She-Ra’s alright.” Her head’s still foggy from everything that just happened but she’s not about to pass on a chance to knock their hero down a peg.

The others practically _gasp_ as Adora just smirks at her. 

“Don’t let her get too much of a big head. She’s been doing a _bunch_ of silly She-Ra stuff lately. Doesn’t seem that special.”

“Not special, huh?” Adora – _She-Ra_ – says with a challenge in her eyes. Catra’s reminded of how sore she already is. She-Ra could absolutely _demolish_ her. For the first time, that’s a happy thought.

“Wait, you’ve seen She-Ra since you’ve been here?” Frosta asks.

“Little signs of her. Some of her parlor tricks – glowing eyes, weird gold waves, and shit.”

“But, the sword...” Frosta replies and trails off. All of the princesses are looking at each other in confusion.

“Adora, what made you turn into She-Ra today?” Perfuma asks in such a way that makes Catra think she already knows the answer.

“To protect Catra,” Adora answers, like it’s the most obvious thing. “Shadow Weaver was about to hurt her.” 

Adora turns to her with the softest grin, looking like she’s grateful just to be able to see Catra. She begins to glow gold all over and the Alliance displays absolutely no chill, chattering and falling all over themselves.

“Nope,” Catra jumps in. She doesn't like the way they’re all starting to look at her. “This is all a coincidence.” She tries to ignore what she heard in the Whispering Woods today. “I am _not_ the cause of this dumb princess magic bullshit.”

“No one else has seen head nor hide of She-Ra since the sword was destroyed. Except you, kitty. It only works around you,” Netossa points out. “It happened today _for you_ . _You_ bring out She-Ra.”

“I’m not in charge of what this dummy does,” Catra protests.

Scorpia coos. “Aww, Wildcat. Adora’s love for you literally transforms her into a magical being.”

Catra’s blushing like an idiot. It’s flattering but it’s not accurate! Still flattering though.

“She-Ra’s coming to Salineas,” Mermista drolls. “Cool.”

They all descend into quiet cheers and blathering on about all the things She-Ra can help them do now. Dumb, selfish idiots.

She-Ra’s smile just grows. She ignores the princesses around her, moving past them to walk to Catra. She completely towers over the girl. Once again, Catra appreciates this for the first time. She kinda wants to climb She-Ra like a tree. Everything beyond that though, she’ll have to go back to regular Adora for.

She-Ra seems to read her mind, _lifting_ Catra like she weighs nothing, up in the air and into her arms before asking, “ _Anything_ I want?”

Catra may regret this. Probably not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing fight scenes is hard. i hope to never do it again. it's a lot of going "wait, where's so and so? shit!" i'd like to imagine that this fight was a form of community accountability and hope that shadow weaver learns and grows from it. 
> 
> yeah, no double trouble. sorry? that wasn't even an intentional red herring. just me forgetting that there's a canon shape-shifter.
> 
> chapter 8? dealing with some fall-out. glimmer is forced to talk to people instead of just yelling at them. adventures in salineas.


	8. Butch Kitty/Soft Kitty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perfuma, always the voice of reason, pleads, “One last question, Mermista. No more.”
> 
> “Fine,” she huffs. Turning to Catra again, she asks, “If Adora breaks up with you, are you gonna go evil again?”
> 
> Building gates and teams. Sleepovers, games, and goodbyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied explicit content at the beginning (like heavily implied, damn near described, one might say). Some angst. Drinking, leading of course to overly personal questions.

Catra regrets everything. But also, definitely not at all.

She and Adora tried to be quiet the night before but it’s impossible that at least everyone in their wing didn’t hear her moaning for She-Ra to stretch her out, Adora’s frantic grunting while Catra rode her, or the bed practically breaking under the weight of She-Ra’s thrusts as she drove into Catra over and over again until they collapsed. She feels bad for the castle staff cause the two of them are gonna definitely need a new set of sheets between Catra gushing everywhere and shredding them to rags.

The Commander needed a lot of reassurance after all the awful things Shadow Weaver said about her. Having a being made of pure benevolence tell her how good she was while practically tearing her apart definitely helped a whole lot.

It’s nice to have She-Ra’s healing ability back so that she didn’t have to worry so much about all the damage done to Adora’s back, but Catra kinda wishes that some of the additional bite marks that she added last night could stay. Just in case everyone wasn’t totally clear on how she owns Adora.

The adrenaline has come down a bit and she’s feeling...not great. Not awful, just a bit out of it. Probably a combination of soreness, not getting almost any sleep, and being reminded that she’s an evil piece of shit by the person who raised her. She’d tried eating and showering, once she could get Adora off of her. She was too tired to listen to Entrapta’s ideas about the Sea Gate or Scorpia’s cooing over her. Bow is busy taking care of Sparkles. Catra's body was too sore for training, the fight the previous day being the first time she’d actually had to do that in a year.

Gods, what a fucking  _ year _ . First, killing Hordak (in self-defense, at least!) and then kicking Shadow Weaver’s ass. Also in self-defense. Maybe folks should stop attacking someone who has a body made of knives and very limited de-escalation skills.

“You're pacing,” Adora comments. She's sitting at her desk, working on some part of her secret plan. She claims it's not secret, just not ready for Catra's judgement.

“No, that's your thing,” Catra responds. “I'm...strategizing.”

“I thought you were tired. Need help relaxing?” Catra glances over and Adora's smiling brightly and giving what she probably assumes are ‘fuck me’ eyes. She looks a bit cross-eyed. It's still kinda hot.

“I'm shocked to hear myself say this but no thanks. I'm wiped.”

Adora laughs. “Thank the Gods. Me too.”

She wants to tell Adora not to do things she doesn't want just to make Catra happy. 

“Then why'd you offer, dummy?” Catra asks instead with an eye roll.

“I just want to make you feel better,” Adora shrugs. Ugh.

Catra frowns. “I don't feel bad.”

Adora hesitates. “Okay…” she says slowly. She puts down her pen and walks over to where Catra is definitely not pacing. “It’s okay to feel however you want. Lotta things happened yesterday.”

Catra changes the path of her pacing slightly to avoid Adora. She doesn't want to talk about feelings and it seems like that's exactly what Adora's ramping up to.

“I'm going to hug you,” Adora announces. She must really think Catra's in a terrible mood if she's afraid to touch her without advance warning.

Catra allows herself to be pulled into the embrace but feels the need to clarify, “I’m not upset.”

Adora nods. “Okay. Maybe I'm upset?”

“Why?” 

Adora shrugs. “We fought Shadow Weaver. She hurt you and I couldn't stop her, which kinda made me feel like a useless kid again. She almost killed Glimmer. She-Ra’s back.” She pulls back to look in Catra's eyes. “I'm overwhelmed, I guess.”

Catra really doesn't want to be comforting Adora. But maybe she'll make an exception for these unusual circumstances. She weaves her claws into Adora's hair, lightly massaging her scalp. Adora closes her eyes and leans into the touch.

“Maybe we should go check on Glitter,” Catra suggests. Adora looks as surprised as she feels to be saying that.

“Are you sure? You don't have to do it just for me.”

“I'm not doing it for you. I don't like you. Or her,” Catra says quickly. “But I owe her a fight so I have to make sure she's recovering and ready for that.”

Adora just laughs.

They go to Bow’s room, where Glimmer’s been recuperating. Adora explains something about Glimmer being too weak to teleport to her ‘hanging bed’ or something, but Catra’s pretty sure this is just an excuse for the two of them to sleep together. 

Also, a hanging bed sounds dope. Maybe she can convince Adora to get them one of those. At least the dummy got rid of her sad little mattress when it became clear that Catra wasn’t going to ever let her fall asleep in it after her second night in the castle.

Glimmer is in bed when they arrive, sitting amongst a sea of pillows and reading a book. Catra imagines that it’s about treaties and laws and Glitter still trying to find a way to fuck her over. Bow is mostly just worrying over the Queen.

Adora sits herself on the bed with Glimmer in a way that’s so familiar that Catra has to stop herself from growling. She isn’t quite sure where she belongs as usual so she just awkwardly stands near the bed but not too closely. Adora asks how Glimmer’s feeling and she explains that she’s okay. She’s recharged with the Moonstone but still feels tired and just needs to rest. 

Then Glimmer gets this look in her eyes like she wants to say something emotional to Adora. Bow must read it too cause he offers to go get everyone some snacks. He tries to get Catra to join him, but she still doesn’t trust Sparkles. It wouldn’t be beneath her to guilt Adora into blaming Catra for this and continuing to try to drive a wedge between them. If she’s nearby, Adora can just call for her to come be back-up.

“Nah, I’m good,” Catra tells Bow. He urges her to take a hint with his eyes. “Dude, I have social skills. I understand a private moment.”

“What?” Adora asks, completely lost.

“You and Glimmer need to talk,” Catra explains to her. “Bow’s gonna go to the kitchen and probably take his sweet time returning. I’m gonna sit on the balcony and mind my business until you call me back in.” 

Adora looks a little panicked. Unclear if it’s from her need to be less than 2 inches from Catra at all times or having to have a conversation with Glimmer that doesn’t involve them screaming at each other from across the war room.

“You don’t have to do that,” she says quickly.

Catra shrugs. “I could use the air anyway.” 

A glance at Glimmer shows that she’s grateful for the gesture. Before Adora can protest again, Catra makes a long graceful leap to the balcony. 

Once there, she looks around just to make sure Entrapta isn’t hiding anywhere. Catra’s gotten better now about doing a full sweep of all spaces before relaxing, lest Entrapta catch her off-guard and cause her to plummet to the ground again. Rationally, she doesn’t know what the princess would even do outside of Bow’s window but she’s sure that Entrapta would find an excuse to creep around out there.

Catra sits on the railing, legs dangling over the side. She takes a moment to just breath, surveying the castle, the land below, the Whispering Woods in the distance, and the clear, blue sky. 

Once she’d halted production of the Horde’s most dangerous materials, the air above the Fright Zone had been slightly less blood red. More like a dusty pink. It was actually kinda peaceful almost, especially when the moons were setting and the new stars started to come out. The first night she noticed, taking a rare break from work, Catra’s first thought was that she should go get Adora and bring her to see. And then she remembered where she was, where Adora was, and how that was never going to happen.

But being under this open blue sky now feels...nice? It helps remind her that she isn’t trapped in the Horde, a cog in a machine, destined to die fighting a war that she doesn’t really care about. Or, more accurately, destined to die at Hordak or Shadow Weaver’s hand just because they’re in a bad mood and looking for something that they know they can hurt.

She tries to push the Shadow Weaver thoughts away, doesn’t want to fall into this spiral. Catra lies down on the railing, going through some steps that she let Perfuma teach her when she was bored. Focus on the sky. Focus on the stone against your back. Focus on the wind and moon on your skin. Focus on the sounds of the birds flying by and Glimmer apologizing to Adora. Shit, fuck.

Without intending to, Catra’s ears have swiveled to pick up the conversation happening inside.

“No, you were right the entire time,” Glimmer sniffles. “At Mystacor, at the Fright Zone raid. She’s only been using me. I let her siphon my powers. I gave her free reign of the castle. Gods, you’re  _ married to Catra _ because Shadow Weaver started dropping hints about how important the Black Garnet was to the Rebellion!”

Of course. Of course this was never about Catra. This was about their stupid princess runestone. Scorpia hasn’t mentioned it once! She clearly doesn’t even care about it.

Adora, oddly enough, just laughs. “You should tell Shadow Weaver that. That’s actually probably the worst punishment could face.” Glimmer laughs too. “It’s not your fault. Shadow Weaver’s so good at getting exactly what she wants and hiding all of the pain she causes.”

“Yes, but I was the one who kept her here. Even after you brought my father back, and he warned me what she had done at Mystacor when she was his teacher, I still thought that we could use her. Deep down, I knew she was evil and couldn’t be trusted but I thought we –  _ I _ – was smarter. I just- I’m so  _ sorry _ . I feel like I keep hurting you.”

Glimmer’s words are cut off by a sob.

“Before she came here, we never had a problem trusting each other. Before  _ Catra  _ sent Double Trouble-”

Adora interjects, “Double Trouble just pointed out what we were too close to see clearly. We weren’t trusting each other. We were trying to win a war like we were friends and not a hierarchy. We let the lines get too blurred.”

“But we  _ are _ friends. Aren’t we?”

There’s a pause before Adora says “Of course” in a way that sounds like it’s not entirely the truth. “Of course, we’re friends,” she repeats more genuinely. “It’s just...would you want to be my friend if I wasn’t She-Ra?”

Something settles in the pit of Catra’s stomach at the small voice that Adora uses to ask that. There’s so much hurt and vulnerability in it. She wants to burn this castle to the ground for making Adora feel that way. She wants to fling herself off the railing for still caring.

“Of course, I do!” Glimmer screams. “Adora, I love you. You’re one of my best friends. I don’t care if you’re She-Ra or not. You don’t have to protect us or save us. You just have to be you.”

There’s rustling and Catra imagines that they’re hugging right now, crying on each other’s shoulders. She wonders about Adora’s plan. If everything’s all better and Adora has her real friends back, will she still follow through? What happens to Catra and everyone in the Horde when Adora abandons them yet again?

“If we work  _ together _ now, we can figure this out, Adora,” Sparkles says a little softer. “You don’t have to be with Catra just because of the trial.”

There’s more rustling and footsteps. Adora’s footsteps, moving away from the bed.

Her voice is very stern and calm when she says, “You can call off the trial. Leave Catra and the Horde alone. But Catra will always be my mate.”

Catra lets out a breath that she didn’t realize she was holding.

“I just can’t believe you’ve spent 4 years lying about your relationship,” Glimmer comments bitterly.

“If it makes you feel better, I was mostly lying to myself,” Adora replies lightly. “It didn’t really feel like something I could tell anywhere here about. But I won’t be shamed for this. And no one’s going to change my mind. I spent so long burying how I felt because I was afraid Shadow Weaver would take Catra away or everyone would stop believing in me. I'm not doing that to her anymore.”

“What are you going to do when she hurts you again?”

“Forgive her, like I’m forgiving you right now. People hurt each other, even when we’re not trying. Doesn’t mean we give up on each other. I’m not leaving her again, Glimmer.”

Sparkles just sighs. “Fine. I guess I’ll try to be nicer to her.”

“She did just save your life,” Adora points out. “I think she’s really trying to be better.” She pauses for a moment. “I think we have to try, too. Remember what Entrapta said? Catra’s not the only one who made mistakes.”

Bow chooses that moment to burst into the room with a tray of snacks. Catra doesn’t casually stroll in until Adora calls out for her. They all sit for a while, gorging themselves on cake and other junk, while Catra watches the Best Friend Squad (as Bow keeps calling them) joke with each other. It’s only medium-awkward.

“Oooh, I know what we should do!” Bow announces. “Best Friend Squad sleepover!” 

Glimmer and Adora pretend to be excited but they’re not the most convincing liars. Both have wild eyes and pinched smiles when they tell Bow that’s an amazing idea. He doesn’t seem to notice. Or he does and doesn’t care.

“Excellent!” Bow cheers. 

He starts to list off all the foods they can eat and things they can do. It mostly sounds like some of the hangouts Catra used to have with her squadron when they’d try to get her to work less and relax more.

“Catra, any additions?” he asks.

“Uh, no?” she shrugs. “Sounds like you guys are gonna have a great time.” She tries to keep her voice flat to hide the disappointment of sleeping apart from Adora.

Bow smiles patiently at her. “Yes, all 4 of us are going to have an awesome time. Do you know any card games?”

The two of them enter a stare-off, Catra narrowing her eyes to figure out what he’s planning and Bow’s smile getting wider.

“Yes,” Catra says finally when it becomes clear that his joy is unbreakable and pure. “I know some games. But I’m not com-”

“Great!” Bow shouts over her. “Welcome to the Best Friend Squad!”

And then he flings himself at her. Catra barely braces for impact before Bow’s arms are around her and the force knocks both of them to the floor. Adora looks positively gleeful. Glimmer only seems amused by how uncomfortable Catra is, judging by how downright  _ wicked _ her smile is.

“I brought you meat snacks,” Bow whispers in her ear.

“You should have led with those, fool.”

After a few minutes of intense friend cuddling, which is apparently a thing in Bright Moon, Catra and Adora are allowed to leave to do whatever they need and then return in the evening. Bow is very clear that pajamas are mandatory. Glimmer is very clear that fucking is prohibited. When Catra proceeds to try to name a bunch of specific sexual acts that she and Adora engage in to get confirmation if those are also prohibited, Adora has to remove her.

They peter around the castle for a bit, mostly in comfortable silence. Occasionally racing or tussling. Catra mostly wants to keep her mind off of Shadow Weaver and what Adora said to Glimmer. 

She takes a break to call Lonnie from her balcony and let her know that she’d be going to Salineas on a peace mission or some shit. Seems like a good way to sell it to others in the Horde, at least. Once Lonnie has a heads up on what materials would be needed from the Fright Zone, she seems surprisingly chill about the whole thing.

“I mean, it would be rude of us to be sore winners and not help them,” Lonnie smiles.

Catra cackles. “I’ll be sure to phrase it exactly that way the next time I mention it to Sparkles. See if her hair turns white or some other normal color that appears in nature.”

Lonnie only asks one or two slightly leading questions about Adora that Catra avoids. Catra tells her about the fight the day before and appreciates that Lonnie doesn't try to make her process her feelings about it.

“If they’re smart, they’ll finally ship Shadow Weaver off to Beast Island. Or shoot her into space. You’re a princess now – can you suggest that?”

“I am not a princess!” Catra argues.

“I’m gonna have to go through all of our records over here and update them. Just search and replace ‘Commander Catra’ with ‘Princess Catra of Bright Moon.’”

“I hope you get carpal tunnel. And also, that you die.”

“Please,” Lonnie says, rolling her eyes. “I'll just make Kyle do it”

“I hope  _ I _ die on this mission. I look forward to haunting the fuck outta you.”

“I doubt it’ll really change our relationship in any way.”

It’s unclear who hangs up on who this time.

Catra returns to her room, cleans up, and changes into pajamas while Adora writes more. She encourages Catra to head over without her and she’ll be there in a minute. It seems innocent enough.

And that was all how Catra found herself currently alone in Bow’s room. With Glimmer.

“Where’s Bow?” Catra asks. “Getting snacks? I should help him.”

“Taking care of some Alliance business,” Glimmer says with a dismissive wave. “We should chat.”

Catra’s pretty busy doing the math on when they could have found time to ambush her like this. She was never more than a few feet away from Adora.

There’s not really anywhere convenient to sit in this room and the bed is out of the question cause she doesn’t know Glimmer like that. So Catra drops to the floor, where Bow has already begun moving pillows and blankets.

“Sure,” she replies breezily. “What up?”

The Queen grits her teeth a bit, forcing herself to get out, “Thank you.” And then she says nothing else, like that’s the end of it.

“Okay?”

“Ugh, thanks for saving my life,” Sparkles squeaks. “It wasn’t that intense the last time Shadow Weaver tapped into my power. She was really going to drain me completely if you hadn’t gotten me out of there. I know that probably wasn’t easy for you – fighting her again or rescuing me – so I appreciate it.”

Catra nods. “You’re welcome.” She gets the sense that Glimmer is waiting for her to apologize or something, but Catra would rather drink acid.

But Glimmer just nods once in acknowledgement. They drift into silence, both of them deciding to look at anything except each other.

“I still don’t trust you,” Sparkles adds after a bit.

“Ditto,” Catra responds with a laugh. Because this whole thing is so absurd. “And I still owe you a beating.”

“Name the time and place, Horde scum,” Glimmer replies but she’s chuckling a bit too.

“How ‘bout you just start swinging, Sparkles, and I’ll catch up.”

Suddenly, Glimmer stops laughing. For a long moment, she just surveys Catra with her eyes, like she’s looking for something important. Catra doesn’t back down. Frankly, she doesn’t really know how to.

“I don't get you,” the Queen finally says.

Catra just raises an eyebrow in response.

So she continues, “Love is supposed to be pure and make us better. How can you love Adora so much and still be so evil?”

Catra wants to say that love can be anything it wants to be and it doesn't give a shit about what we expect. But she doesn't know anything about love. Hasn't ever received it or been asked to give it.

“Are you into Adora or what?” she asks, sidestepping all of that. “I thought you and Boy were a thing.”

In response, Glimmer practically fakes passing out again, throwing herself against the massive stack of pillows and flickering a light pink. Catra is very unimpressed.

Noticing that pretending to be dead doesn’t work, the Queen just harrumphs. 

“No! I...I love them both.” She looks down at her hands. “It’s just complicated, okay?! I don’t like them how you think I do. We all used to be so close. Bow and Adora are the only real friends I have. I need to protect them. From  _ you _ .”

“Ditto,” Catra responds again but her laugh is a lot less sure now.

This kid clearly has a lot of feelings and hasn’t figured out a single godsdamn one of them. Catra gets that. But if she isn’t gonna talk about this lovey bullshit with people she actually trusts, she sure as fuck isn’t gonna waste her breath on Sparkles.

“Maybe we should stick to talking about punching each other in the face,” she suggests instead.

Glimmer accepts that with a short nod. 

Catra would be sympathetic if the kid wasn’t so fucking annoying about everything. Like, yeah, she lost her parents. Sure, she’s been manipulated by Shadow Weaver. Fine, she’s had to grow up fast and lead. And whatever about being all obsessed about her best friends.

She’s still a fucking hound from hell and Catra’s committed to destroying her if she steps out of line again. As long as they’re both aware of that, Glimmer’s allowed to mind her own fucking business for now and the Commander will do the same.

Catra can hear Bow whispering, “They don’t sound angry but they are threatening each other” from outside the door.

She calls out, “Can you two come in here? You’re being about as quiet as Scorpia on a megaphone.”

Bow and Adora rush in then, both trying to hide how panicked they are. Once they see that nothing’s been turned over or used as a weapon, they seem to relax a bit. 

Bow climbs onto the bed with Glimmer, keeping a friend-appropriate amount of distance, and Adora flops down beside Catra and shoves her head into the girl’s lap. It’s reminiscent of how they used to sit sometimes back in the Fright Zone when Shadow Weaver wasn’t around. As Bow begins listing the agenda for tonight that he created, Catra’s claws begin unconsciously lightly kneading Adora’s head. She doesn’t realize that Bow’s stopped talking until she hears him squeak.

“Aww, you’re purring again,” he says, completely ruining the moment. “I’m grateful that you’re so comfortable with us.”

That feels like a gross misread of the situation. But, if little crap like this will get the Rebellion to let their guard down so she can get out of this shit show, Catra’s down to do it. When they set up their pillow and blanket fort fully later, she doesn’t even try to hide it when she builds a tiny nest and kneads it until it’s perfect before laying down with a sniff. This time at least, Bow just coos, instead of commenting on it.

They play a board game that makes little sense to Catra but she ends up beating them anyway because Adora helps her and she cheats, reading Adora’s cards and stealing game pieces. Catra teaches them a card game that Kyle made up, but by that time, she’s so full of meat snacks and pastries that she doesn’t have the energy to scam them all. Glimmer ends up winning and she basically almost died yesterday so that’s fine.

When it starts to get really late, they all pile into Bow’s bed together. The three dummies immediately fall into a cuddle chain, Bow holding Glimmer while she holds Adora. Adora’s arms stretch out for Catra but she decides to stay a few inches away, staring at the ceiling until she hears them all softly snoring together.

It takes some time for her mind to wind down. The night was a lot of touching and noise and silliness that she’s never really experienced before. No one’s ever thanked Catra for saving their life before either. At least Glimmer had the decency to couch it with some threats.

Then the deep, dark unwelcome thoughts start to swirl in. She doesn’t deserve to be thanked. Shadow Weaver wouldn’t even have been in Bright Moon if Catra hadn’t defeated her, taken her place, and then let her escape from the Fright Zone. She had captured them all. Wrecked the world.

“Quiet, you,” Glimmer whispers sternly. Catra feels a soft, small hand take hers. She glances over and Glimmer is still wrapped around Adora’s back but has reached across the sleeping blonde to make contact with Catra. “I can hear you panicking from here. You’re all squirmy. The Queen orders you to get in this cuddle pile and chill the fuck out so I can get some sleep.”

Sleepiness must be making them both delirious cause Catra allows Glimmer to tug her closer to the group. Once she’s next to Adora, the blonde sleepily throws half her body onto Catra.

“Hey, baby,” she whispers. “It’s okay. Let us take care of you. You deserve it.” Adora wraps an arm around her and Glimmer still doesn’t let go of her hand. The bed smells like Bow, which is surprisingly calming. After a few minutes, Sparkles sleepily drops her hand and moves to cupping her arm. Adora’s warm breaths tickle her ear a bit and Catra's purr kicks in just before she drifts off.

The last thing she hears is Glimmer reminding them, “The ‘no fucking’ rule still counts even if Bow and I are asleep.”

A few days later, Catra’s waiting for Adora in their room. They’re set to leave for Salineas with their ridiculous motley crew of Mermista, Sea Hawk, Entrapta, Scorpia, and Perfuma. Catra had made a  _ huge _ mistake earlier by referring to them all as the B Team, which prompted Sea Hawk to call them the Sea Team before he and Scorpia descended into a barrage of sea-based puns. So Catra decided to hide in her room while they all got the vessel ready. Adora promised her a surprise anyway. Catra hates surprises but focusing on imagining what horrible ideas Adora has constructed is a nice distraction.

When Adora rushes in, all overly excited and practically pushes Catra out of the castle, she’s beginning to regret a lot more than the team name. Adora’s surprise is apparently that they’ll be taking Mara’s spaceship instead of a boat. Catra just narrows her eyes.

“No? You don’t want to?” Adora asks, nervous now.

Catra doesn’t tear her eyes away from it. “It got you to Beast Island and back safely?”

“Yep!” Adora chirps. Then quieter, “Mostly. Once we figured it out.”

“And that was  _ before _ you let Entrapta get her hands on it?” Catra asks, watching purple pigtails hang out the open bottom hatch. 

The princess’s actual body is nowhere in view, but Catra is a bit skeptical about getting into ancient alien technology that’s been “improved” by Entrapta. She trusts the girl but she’s also been blown up and/or nearly killed many times while working with her.

“It’s super safe!” Adora assures her. “I’d ask Entrapta to tell you how safe but we don’t have that much time. We’re launching soon.”

Adora grabs her hand and drags her onto the ship. Blessfully, it’s a short trip. Adora and Entrapta fight over who is in control and Catra’s pretty sure that Entrapta only  _ allows _ Adora to think she’s in charge while Entrapta shadow-pilots the ship from another room. This feels like it’s confirmed when Catra goes to the window to watch the ocean fly by and Adora joins her for a while.

“Is the water better if you don’t have to be in it?” the blonde asks.

“It’s...tolerable,” Catra offers.

“I know I’ve said this before,” Adora begins, “but thank you so much for doing this. Thank you for trusting me and all of us.”

“Yeah, well. Can’t clean up my mess alone. More hands is faster.”

“You’re welcome,” Adora responds with a smirk.

Catra kicks at her shin, which she blocks. “I didn’t say it!” 

Adora goes for a low kick and Catra deflects. She grabs Adora’s jacket and pulls her closer, just a breath away. 

“But thanks. For coming and helping. And not making me get on a fucking boat.” Quieter, Catra adds, “And dealing with my moods the past few days.”

She hadn’t been...pleasant. Restless mostly and kinda crabby. Adora had given her lots of space and lots of reassurance when she was around. Catra hoped that being out of Bright Moon would help calm her thoughts a bit.

Adora’s hands go to her mane and neck. It would be more soothing if Adora’s eyes didn’t keep dropping to her lips. 

“If you ever want to talk, I’m here.” 

Catra just nuzzles her and marks her. Just in case anyone in Salineas gets any ideas.

Mermista sets them all up in her castle when they land. She very pointedly puts Adora and Catra in the furthest wing and tells everyone to ask the staff for earplugs if that doesn’t work. 

They begin some of the work that evening, just mapping out the last details as the Salineans finish unloading all of the Horde freights. Being there has Catra’s nerves completely fried and by the end of the meeting, she’s snapping at Entrapta for literally no reason at all. Adora ends up using her She-Ra powers for evil when she transforms, carries Catra to bed, and uses her giant body as a blanket until Catra calms down and goes to sleep.

The next morning, she’s back to her Commander hours. Catra steals one of Adora’s ponytail holders, puts her hair up, and gets to work. They rig up a bunch of pulleys to carry materials and workers to the top of the gate, starting with the hardest part first. Catra still doesn’t understand Entrapta’s tech enhancements so she sticks to directing the building. Most all of the Salineans hate her, glaring at her all day, but they take orders. When she gets antsy just yelling at people, Catra jumps into helping with the reinforcements herself. She’s hauling loads like a woman possessed before Adora and Scorpia make her take a break and get some water.

She sits on the ground nearby for a couple minutes, watching She-Ra and Scorpio load materials and operate the pulleys. Catra has to tear her eyes away from She-Ra’s arms and back rippling while she works. The giant blonde dummy is smiling and talking to everyone around her, casually picking up huge metal beams with the same ease as her throwing Catra around their bedroom. Catra feels too guilty to be horny. And then She-Ra wipes sweat from her face using her shirt and Catra catches a glimpse of the hard stomach that she wants to grind all over. So now she feels guilty for  _ being horny _ .

Adding Perfuma was a great call, it turns out. The flower princess uses her powers to help carry part of the load and talks to everyone to keep morale up. Entrapta flits about installing tech and frightening the locals. Sea Hawk sings motivational shanties but is generally no help at all.

“Butch kitty,” Mermista greets, coming over to Catra. She immediately jumps to her feet.

“Don’t start with me. I'm just getting some water,” Catra says quickly. “I’ll jump back in in a minute.”

“Chill, dude,” Mermista replies. “Just wanted to see if you needed anything.”

“No, I think we’re good. Uh, thanks for coordinating some folks to help.”

Mermista looks at her closely for a moment. “No problem.” She turns to leave and stops slowly. Over her shoulder, Mermista calls out, “When we’re done, I’ll show you around.” She walks away before Catra can decline. That doesn’t sound fun at all.

That day, they work until nearly dark. They manage to reinforce almost the entire top-right structure of the gate, especially once She-Ra decides to just climb up and start doing most of the labor herself. Mermista’s staff serves them a small dinner and they all retire to bed early. Catra flops down face first onto their bed and passes out before her thoughts can start to eat her up, with Adora close behind her.

The next couple days are the same. Early starts, hard labor, and long hours. A few more guards and civilians volunteer to join in, which at least allows some people to take breaks. Catra only stops for water and the occasional snack. The more she pushes herself, the less she thinks about cannon fire tearing through Salineas’ first line of defense, the destroyed homes, or how proud she was to stand next to Hordak, someone she absolutely hated, that day.

Mermista, like a true princess, doesn’t lift a finger. But to Catra’s surprise, she does greet everyone every day. By name. She never sounds happy about it, because that’s not her brand, but she remembers each person and checks in on them numerous times. She keeps everyone fed and as comfortable as possible. All of the workers talk about how they mysteriously have extra support for rebuilding their homes. 

Mermista even gets the other princesses to rest a few times, except She-Ra, of course. When Adora inevitably misses a step and takes a nose-dive off the top of the Sea Gate, a huge wave rises up out of the sea to catch her before she leaves a giant She-Ra-shaped hole in the ground.

That inspires everyone to beg Adora to please take a seat for a hot second. Catra shocks everyone by calling it a day early and giving everyone some much needed time off. She soon regrets that when Mermista invites the Rebellion members to join her for drinks at a nearby tavern.

Sea Hawk practically kicks the fucking door open, announcing his entry.

“Everyone loves me here,” he dramatically stage-whispers to the group.

“That eel-looking girl is giving you the finger,” Catra points out.

“Yeah, I tried to pick the bar that he’s gotten thrown out of the  _ least _ amount of times,” Mermista shares. “When he orders, just make sure someone watches the bartender so no one spits in our drinks.” 

The casual way she says this (even by  _ Mermista _ standards!) makes them all think this has happened way too many times. Why doesn’t he just stay home? Actually, does Sea Hawk  _ have _ a home?

At first, Catra thinks they’re lucky to find a booth in the back that fits them until she realizes that Mermista scared the previous occupants into vacating for her. Catra is frankly impressed.

Sea Hawk rushes to the bar with Entrapta following to supervise. Catra expects beers. She should have realized that was naive. The singing idiot returns with a dozen shots and has the barmaid bring over beers for each of them. She’s not a big drinker and she can’t imagine anyone else is either, Sea Hawk included. Him being hated around here is probably more related to his personality and not any actual drunken antics. The man’s insufferable enough sober.

One sip of beer and Catra, Perfuma, Adora, and Scorpia nearly spit it out, while Mermista and Sea Hawk sling it back with a content sigh. No one dares to question Entrapta when she doesn’t join them.

“Fascinating,” Entrapta observes, making notes.

“What,” Adora pauses to sniff it, “is this?”

“Gose! Salineas’ best known brew!” Sea Hawk cheers.

“Is there  _ salt _ in here?” Catra asks.

“I thought you could hang, kitty,” Mermista says, eyes twinkling mischievously.

Not to be outdone, Catra takes the largest gulp she can handle. She lets the flavor sit with her for a second. It’s not awful. 

“It’s growing on me.” 

She downs nearly a quarter of it just to keep up with Mermista. Adora looks mildly horrified.

Sea Hawk orders snacks and they settle into some light conversation. It isn’t long before the sea princess is on her second beer and is already asking for a third so Catra follows suit. Adora is now actively trying and failing to move the beer away from Catra. She’s got some scratches to show for her efforts.

“We should play a game,” Mermista suggests. “That could be fun or whatever.”

Scorpia and Perfuma’s eyes light up.

“That sounds like a delightful opportunity for bonding,” Perfuma agrees, while Scorpia nods vigorously. Entrapta makes a note about this.

Scorpia leans in. “What about Would You Ra-”

“Fuck, Marry, Kill,” Mermista interrupts. Ignoring Perfuma’s outraged huff, she turns on Catra. “Let’s start with the kitty. You know the rules, right?”

“Yeah, water girl, I’m not 8,” Catra replies. She’s sure a better nickname will come to her later. Raising an eyebrow in challenge, she downs more of her drink.

Mermista narrows her eyes. “Glimmer. Spinnerella. Hmm...and me. Go.”

Catra thinks it over, drinking a bit more. Next to her, Adora is chewing her lip, like she’s waiting on someone’s feelings to be hurt. 

“Marry Wind Tunnel. She seems like she knows her way around a vagina.” Adora sputters into her beer. She’s not gonna like the rest of these answers then. “I’d fuck you. Obviously.” Adora continues sputtering and Perfuma kindly begins to rub her back, since everyone else is simply ignoring her. 

“Obviously,” Mermista repeats, flipping her braid over her shoulder.

“And kill Glimmer. Also, pretty obvious.” Mermista just shrugs.

“Um...why was Mermista obvious?” Adora asks. Catra just makes a sweeping hand motion in the sea princess’ general direction and shrugs.

“Your turn, Merms.” Eh, could still use some work. “Glimmer, Adora, and...Entrapta.” She wonders if they’re both intentionally trying to leave Perfuma and Scorpia out of this.

Mermista takes a drink and ponders. “Marry Adora probably. She seems to be laying it down.” Catra ignores Adora’s whispered question of what that means. “That’s tough. Glimmer’s passionate, which might be interesting to play with but Entrapta will do a lot of research and bring a lot of... _ accoutrements _ .”

“Damn. Well thought out,” Catra admits.

“I don’t believe you and I are viable sexual intercourse partners, but I don’t think that’s pertinent to the rules of this particular game,” Entrapta comments.

“Nope, not at all,” Mermista agrees. “Fine. Kill Entrapta, fuck Glimmer.” She then turns to Perfuma. “Flowers-”

“Oh, no thank you,” Perfuma quickly responds. “This game feels like it has the potential to be very hurtful.”

“Ooooh,” Scorpia lights up again. “What about Questions? We go in a circle, taking turns asking each other a question. Good, clean teambuilding fun.”

Catra’s never fought Mermista one on one before. The sinisterly gleeful look in her eyes now makes her hope that she never has to.

“Yes,” Mermista nearly hisses. “Questions! If you refuse to answer, you have to take a shot.”

Before anyone else can actually voice the dissent on their faces, Mermista barrels ahead. 

“Kitty, have you played with She-Ra yet?” she asks suggestively.

Catra opens her mouth to respond but catches sight of Adora overreacting and turning bright red next to her. Figuring if she’d like to  _ keep _ playing with She-Ra, Catra could probably let this one go. With a dramatic sigh, she reaches for one of the shots and knocks it back. Mermista smiles, victorious. She announces it’s Perfuma’s turn next.

“Fine. Mermista, why do you insist on bringing potential conflict to our outing tonight?”

She shrugs. “Stress and alcohol are the best ways to truly get to know someone. Scorpia’s up next.”

“Oh, gosh. I suppose, Perfuma, what’s your favorite time of year?”

Perfuma’s response is lost under Mermista and Catra loudly booing the question.

When it’s Adora’s turn, she shrinks under the non-existent pressure. “Can I take a shot instead of asking a question?” Mermista and Catra do nothing to discourage her.

For Catra’s turn, she zeroes in on Sea Hawk, “Water prince.” Mermista groans loudly. “What’d you do to get on this place’s shit list?”

“I am deeply beloved in this humble establishment,” he declares. “Though, I may have been a party to some friendly roughhousing. And a bit of unauthorized gambling. And a glorious impromptu indoor bonfire.”

“Fires,  _ plural _ ,” Mermista clarifies with an eye roll. It’s way more fond that it has any right to be.

“I believe it is my opportunity to partake in this game,” Sea Hawk says. “Fiercest Adora, I challenge you to a rematch.”

“That’s not a question, dummy,” Catra tells him.

“Uhhhh, please?” he asks.

Mermista jumps in. “ _ After  _ the game.”

Perfuma, always the voice of reason, pleads, “One last question, Mermista. No more.”

“Fine,” she huffs. Turning to Catra again, she asks, “If Adora breaks up with you, are you gonna go evil again?”

Not breaking eye contact, Catra weaves one of her hands into Adora hair and begins lightly kneading her head. Adora closes her eyes and leans into the touch, like she’s forgotten where they are. 

“Adora’s never leaving. So we don’t have to worry about that.” 

Adora mindlessly nods in agreement.

Mermista leans in further. “But if she did? Say she goes missing in battle or she’s brainwashed or whatever. You go berserk again?”

Catra unconsciously digs her nails maybe a bit too hard at the thought. Adora audibly winces.

“Sorry,” Catra says absently, dropping her hand to the back of Adora’s neck instead. She pretends not to see Entrapta’s recorder moving closer to her from underneath the table. 

Eyes still on Mermista, she responds, “That was all years ago. Let’s say I...grew up. But, I guess we won’t truly know until I’m  _ stressed _ , right? I’m sure you’ll keep an eye on me til then.” At the last part, she decides to waggle her eyebrows suggestively.

“You should be so lucky,” Mermista responds with a smirk. “Okay, are you two goons gonna arm wrestle or what?” she asks, looking between Sea Hawk and Adora. 

Ah, the rematch. Catra scoots closer to Adora to get a better angle on the show. Adora flexes, eyes locked with Catra’s. A thought hits her and she removes her jacket, placing it around Catra’s shoulders. Both of them blush like schoolgirls.

“Best two out of three?” Sea Hawk asks and Adora nods, while stretching.

“Winner takes on Scorpia?” Perfuma offers, practically drooling while eyeing the larger princess.

“Oh, no, thanks!” Scorpia declines quickly. She rubs the back of her neck like she’s embarrassed about something. “Actually, the music in here isn’t too bad. Maybe I’ll go dance for a bit.” She’s up and on her feet before anyone can object.

“I’ll come with you!” Perfuma responds with a smile. Scorpia is grateful but looks down at her claws a bit awkwardly when Perfuma reaches for her hand. “Oh. I’m sure we’ll figure it out.” She grabs a pincer and pulls Scorpia away.

Catra maybe accidentally voices an inside thought. “I’d like to know how they’ll figure out  _ a lot _ of things.”

Mermista heads whips around to her. “Right?!” She raises an eyebrow and nods towards Catra’s claws on the table. “Maybe you could give them some tips?”

Catra quickly hides her hands in her lap, flushing deeply again. She’s still not quite ready to think too much about that, let alone joke about it. Adora takes one of her hands and squeezes it quickly. Catra squeezes back once to signal that she's okay, so Adora gives her a reassuring smile before turning her attention back to Sea Hawk.

“Hey, I’m not knocking it,” Mermista says more gently. “I could definitely see the appeal.”

“Yes, my dearest Mermista does enj-” Sea Hawk’s words are cut off by Mermista flinging half of Perfuma’s remaining beer into his face. Catra would have loved to hear the rest but this is pretty good too.

“Get on with the show!” Mermista demands. To Catra, she offers, “Want to bet on winner?”

“Want to bet on how much Sea Hawk cries when he loses?”

Mermista just cackles as Sea Hawk whimpers.

The next morning is not pleasant, due to the several shots that Mermista and Catra ended up doing together. Catra’s pretty sure that by the end, she was just babbling nonsense about Adora to Mermista, since her new nickname is apparently ‘soft kitty.’ Scorpia takes over project management while Catra hides in the shade. On top of how beat she is from the physical labor, the hangover feels like a decent punishment.

Midway through the morning though, Perfuma gives her a strange herb to help settle her stomach and Mermista silently passes her a drink that smells and tastes awful but makes the day bearable.

A few days later, the infrastructure around the Sea Gate is successfully in place. Mermista has celebratory beers brought over for everyone who worked on it. Catra begs off, swearing to never drink again.

“I’ll leave building the pretty sirens to you,” Catra tells her, pointing to the crumbled statues. “But the Gate’s a lot more structurally sound now. Entrapta’s tech should help with that too and boost the Gate’s woo woo magic.” 

She-Ra had taken care of that part. Unlike their first meeting in Salineas, Catra left her alone for the most part but did mock how ‘hard’ she seemed to be working at just pointing a sword and having a staring contest with a gate.

“Not bad, soft kitty,” Mermista murmurs.

“Just don’t let Sea Hawk fire a test cannon shot until we’re gone,” Catra says, heading back to the spaceship.

“I’ve still got my eyes on you,” Mermista calls out.

Catra turns back to smirk and wink at her. “Give me a call if you ever want a closer look.” She makes sure to put a little extra swagger in her hips as she leaves.

“She-Ra, get this shameless flirt out of my kingdom!”

Adora rushes after Catra, all flustered. “Gladly!”

As they board the ship, they all say farewell to Perfuma, who had gotten excited about the prospect of helping the Salineans repair the intricate statues that frame the gate and will, hopefully, cover all of the ugly Horde metalwork. After some dilly-dallying, she had finally decided to stay and help. Scorpia, who couldn’t see a hint if it punched her in the tit, would be returning with Adora, Catra, and Entrapta.

From the ship’s hatch, the other three crowd around to hide and watch Scorpia and Perfuma’s lingering goodbye. Mostly, Catra hides and Adora follows because she doesn't understand what’s happening and Catra won’t explain. It’s unclear why Entrapta’s there but she probably doesn’t want to miss an opportunity to collect more information on all of them. Catra has trouble getting her fellow eavesdroppers to keep quiet though so it’s hard for her to pick up what’s happening from so far away.

With them secretly looking on, the other two talk for a short bit, both blushing. Scorpia rubs the back of her neck. Perfuma gives her a flower. And then, Scorpia pulls Perfuma into her arms and gives her a kiss so gentle that Catra blushes by proxy. They pull apart, just smiling giddily and staring into each other’s eyes.

“Ohhh,” Entrapta whispers. “Are they mates now?”

“They’re certainly something,” Catra remarks with a small smile, leading them all away before Scorpia returns.

“That was so cute,” Adora squeals.

Catra rolls her eyes, still smiling. “You’re starting to sound like Bow.”

“Oh?” Adora teases. “Does Commander Catra not think kissing is cute?”

Catra’s smile falters. “It’s alright, I guess,” she mumbles before slinking away to hide from that question and Adora and the odd feeling in her stomach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to [FBiosca](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FBiosca/pseuds/FBiosca) whose comments inspired a lot of the Glimmer/Catra convo. It was missing some drama and feels before.
> 
> So, **some** people are kissing at least.
> 
> Anyway, will you be soothed by a chapter 9 preview? Feelings! Chaos!
> 
> Enjoying this? I've started posting the story that I wrote as soon as wicked games was done, [hunger hurts, starving works](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28858188). It's super different (modern setting, everyone's in their early 30s) and yet somehow very similar (Catra and Adora are both a fucking mess for each other, no one communicates effectively).


	9. Five Agents of Chaos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I was hoping that on the next mission, I’d get lost at sea or something and then boop! Problem solved.”
> 
> Scorpia talks love languages. Micah talks responsibility. Missions, bets, and problem solving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Yeah, some angst again. Mention of Shadow Weaver. Description of disassociating. A little violence and some discussion of violence.
> 
> Kyle's first appearance!

After the Salineas thing, Entrapta and Scorpia start showing up even more around Catra, eager to help her with new projects. Catra doesn't have any actual things for them to do because she’s technically a prisoner and doesn’t have a job. She knows she’s not supposed to think she’s in custody but free people don’t need the Queen’s permission to come and go as they please.

Mostly, the three spend a lot of time in Entrapta’s lab, while she bounces ideas off of them and works on experiments. Things feel like they’re returning to how they used to be, back when the three were inseparable for a while. Entrapta’s even coming out of her shell more, talking about non-science topics and making what Catra thinks are jokes. It's hard to tell when Entrapta's actually amused though cause one of her top two default sounds is maniacal cackling.

Scorpia is clearly making an effort to spend quality time with them, but she still apologizes anytime she can’t hang out or has to leave early because she’s got plans with Perfuma. Catra and Entrapta don’t really care. Scorpia’s got a girlfriend now. It’s almost kinda cute actually. Perfuma has thanked Catra for her advice and for asking her to go to Salineas, like this was Catra’s secret plan all along or something.

In the Fright Zone, relationships were forbidden of course. Sex seemed to be slightly less taboo as long as Shadow Weaver didn’t catch you and it didn’t affect your training or duties. Love and affection were deeply prohibited and Catra had heard about a few older cadets who had to be placed in separate squadrons once they’d gotten involved. So Scorpia doesn’t know much about relationships, except what she vaguely remembers from her mothers, and Perfuma has been teaching her a lot. Catra’s been learning too, while Scorpia goes through her overly long descriptions of all the things the two do together.

Now Catra knows all about dates and presents and pet names and spooning. Even extra frilly shit like love languages. When Scorpia asks what hers is, Catra ignores the suggested categories and answers snacks, schemes, pets, and being left alone for naps, while Entrapta makes a note. Scorpia then gets curious about Adora’s love language.

“Uhh,” Catra’s mind is completely blank. That’s weird. She knows everything about Adora. “Sparring? Being told she’s the best, definitely. I guess ‘acts of service’ or whatever you said.” 

Catra can feel herself starting to blush against her will, being reminded of how Adora tries to provide anything she needs.  _ Gods _ , this stupid mating bite thing really has Adora fooled into thinking she’s falling for Catra, hasn’t it? 

Catra tries to think of other weird shit Adora’s been doing since she arrived. Marking her. Beating up Shadow Weaver. That first time in their bed when Adora said “ _ I know that was your way of showing me… _ ”

Wait. Holy  _ fuck _ , does Adora think that was Catra saying she  _ lov _ -

“Aww,” Scorpia coos. Her claws are smushed together under her chin and she has hearts in her big, round eyes.

“What?” Catra snaps at her. She’s a little aware that all of her fur is standing up right now.

Scorpia continues, undeterred. “You just have this sweet faraway look in your eyes and the cutest smile. Are you thinking of your mate?”

Catra’s eyes widen. “Ihavetogo,” she says calmly. She’s very calm. This is all fine. 

Entrapta’s lab doesn’t have windows so there’s nothing to throw herself out of. She jumps into the vents and scurries away.

“Catra in love is...odd,” she can barely hear Entrapta remark as she leaves.

She stays up there for a while. Just sitting in the darkness of the vents. She wishes she was in the Fright Zone for the first time in...fucking hell, it’s been forever since she’s actually thought of herself being back in her own home. Things are easier there. Things are easier there, she reminds herself with a sigh, none of this weird, new shit is there. Things are easier. No one expects her to sit around and think about her feelings.

“Catra?” a deep voice asks, muffled by the vent. She doesn’t say anything and she probably can’t move now without being heard. So she waits. “Catra? Is that you?” 

It’s King Micah, she realizes. Whatever weird thing she was doing while having a panic attack, a phrase she had to learn after Entrapta freaked out once, probably caught his attention. She knows he’s nice enough that he’ll never leave her alone.

She clears her throat awkwardly. “Yeah, sorry. Just...passing through.”

“Can we talk?”

A deep breath. “Yeah, okay. I’ll...come down.”

She tumbles out and she’s in Micah’s study, where he usually is if he’s not in Mystacor doing magic shit. She hasn’t been here before. It’s surprisingly not as big and grandiose as Catra expected. It’s still huge and bright and awfully decorated, of course, but it’s cozier than a lot of spaces in Bright Moon. It smells a little woodsy and the seats look comfy.

“Hi,” Micah greets her with a smile, gesturing towards a chair. “You know, I’m always hearing weird sounds since it’s so quiet in here. I just assumed it was Entrapta, though I’m pretty sure she has spybots recording everything. It’s comforting in a weird way, reminds me of when we were on Beast Island together.”

“Yeah, that’s Entrapta. Creepy and oddly comforting. My bad for interrupting whatever you do in here. I was just trying to get to my room from Entrapta’s lab.”

“It’s fine,” he shrugs. “I wanted to talk to you anyway. Maybe the universe made this happy accident happen.” He gestures towards that chair again and Catra finally sits. With a satisfied grin, Micah sits back down at his desk. “Is there a reason why you prefer our ventilation system to the halls?”

“Less people that hate me up there?”

He laughs. Not what she intended but it's a nice sound.

“That makes sense,” he says. “Do you want tea or anything?”

She shakes her head, figuring they can keep this socializing to a minimum so she can go find somewhere to panic in peace.

“I wanted to talk to you about Shadow Weaver,” Micah begins. 

His study  _ does  _ have windows, which Catra makes it about halfway to, leaping out of her chair and over his desk, before he yells out.

“Please! She was my mentor too.”

Catra freezes. In what world could she and this sap have been trained by the same cretin? Curious, she slowly returns to her seat. She can feel how she's on edge, which usually has anyone else in the room fearful, waiting for her to lash out like a beast.

Micah just heaves a relieved sigh and relaxes into his chair. “I knew her as Light Spinner. She was my teacher at Mystacor.”

The pieces start to come together. Whatever Glimmer was saying to Adora a while back. The way Micah looked at Shadow Weaver before she attacked Catra.

She has a lot of questions. How is he normal? Does that mean that Shadow Weaver used to be good? Did she ever hurt anyone like she hurt Catra? She senses that he's got some questions of his own though. Better to let him lead while she gets her thoughts organized.

“She trained me when I was just a boy,” he continues. “She...lied to me. Used my abilities for dark magic. Endangered us all, almost killed me. Even back then, she was only obsessed with power.”

“Sounds about right,” Catra comments dryly. “Her favorite past-times were trying to kill me and steal Adora’s power.”

“Adora mentioned that Shadow Weaver was especially cruel to you.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t feel like it really tells the full roundness and depth of her awfulness but it’s fine.”

“Do you want to tell me more?” Micah asks. 

Catra rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She’s spent enough time talking about Shadow Weaver and she doesn’t even know this dude. 

“It’s okay. She’s at Mystacor now. The Sorcerer’s Guild has her in custody. They’ve tried questioning her about anything useful she might know but it’s pointless.” He sighs. “They’re considering what to do with her next. I thought it might be a good idea to ask you.”

To say Catra’s shocked would be a massive understatement. 

“Me?! No nono. Last time she was my prisoner, she manipulated me once again and nearly got me killed.”

“You won’t ever have to see her again, Catra. I promise you that.”

“I don’t think I’m really in a position to decide anyone else’s fate,” she responds. “Considering that I’m in a similar boat already.” 

Catra shifts uncomfortably in her chair. Just talking about Shadow Weaver makes her feel like the asshole might appear at any moment, summoned just to ruin her life all over again. There’s something that’s been bugging her for a long time though. 

Quietly, Catra asks, “She’s...do you think she can change?”

Micah looks surprised for a moment before sadness washes over him. “I’ve asked myself that a lot, honestly. She was always kind to me. I still don’t know how much of that was genuine and how much was to groom me so I’d be more amenable to her plans.”

Catra nods, thinking of all the times that a caress of her cheek or a slightly kind word was a setup for more torture. 

She starts slowly, trying to get a handle on all of her conflicting thoughts. “Shadow Weaver losing her freedom feels, I don’t know, somehow both too cruel and yet not brutal enough. Does that make sense? I want to punish her, pay her back for all the lessons she taught me. But I also want her to...be different? Learn to be, maybe. At least do something to prove that all the time I spent with her wasn’t just a means to an end.” It’s at that point that she realizes she had been crying. 

Micah gives her a couple minutes to pull it together. “You don't have to sort it out all at once. Sometimes there are no answers. You won't get an answer for why this happened, but it was never about you. Or me, any of us. Shadow Weaver didn't seem to really know us or care. Look at how she used Adora or how wrong she’s been about all of us. She was only truly interested in taking control.”

He scoots his chair a little closer to her. It’s close enough that he could reach out to her, but Catra’s glad that he doesn’t. 

“You are very powerful, Catra. Whatever you choose to do with that power? That’s all your decision, not  _ hers _ , not anyone else’s either. You saved Glimmer  _ from her _ . I’m very grateful.” 

What Micah’s saying doesn’t quite resemble the picture Catra has of herself in her mind. 

“I opened the portal. The one that took the Queen.”

To her surprise, he barely reacts. “I know.”

Catra is immediately livid. Why can’t this idiot be more like Glimmer? Be mad at her. 

“You know?! And so?”

Micah takes a breath. “I don't exactly forgive you. Adora wanted to stop the portal. Angella took her place because she knew how important She-Ra was to Etheria and to peace. Angella made that choice, much like how she thought I’d chosen to give up my life in battle. We can’t be responsible for other people’s choices but we can be responsible for our own.” He gives her a moment to hear him. “Because of the portal, I got to be with Angella again. Just for a brief while though, but after so many years, it was nice to be able to say goodbye to her. When I found out what happened, those moments meant so much to me.”

They sit there in silence for a while. Catra tries to calm down her thoughts. Focus on something to stop the drowning feeling, all the anger and hatred and hurt threatening to suffocate her.

“I,” she chokes out. Pauses, takes a deep breath. This feels like a clear thing that she has to do. Something to ground her for a bit. “I’m sorry I made that choice. The portal. Your wife made her choice but I put her in that position. So I’m sorry for that.” 

“Thank you,” Micah whispers. “That does really mean a lot. I think you should get some rest. I imagine this was all a bit much.”

She nods absently, wrapping her arms around herself and standing. Her eyes are locked on the floor but she feels Micah stand and move a bit closer to her.

“Remember,” he says, “you  _ are  _ powerful, Catra. It’s up to you to figure out how you want to wield it.”

Standing outside in the hall, Catra’s still not sure about a lot of things. But, in all of her swirling thoughts, she latches on to two ideas. This is good. Two tasks to focus on.

She finds herself in the war room...not  _ too _ entirely sure how she got there. Ugh, she hates this. Sometimes she’d do this in the Fright Zone in her worst moments, get in so deep that she’d feel like she was floating outside of her body, watching herself do things but unable to stop them. Or giving orders or making plans and having no memory of when she did that. Snap out of it, Commander, she tries to will.

Adora’s on her immediately, saying something she can’t quite hear. Then Adora’s checking her eyes and poking her or something.

Catra shakes her head, trying to jolt the fog off. 

“I’m fine, dummy,” she mumbles, lightly pushing Adora away. She rubs her eyes and tries again. “I’m fine” comes out a bit louder and clearer.

They’re all staring at her now, clearly in the middle of another meeting. Glimmer is pissed but everyone is mostly just confused.

“My bad,” Catra says, “Feel like I’m always interrupting dramatically with requests.” She turns to Adora. “You can go back to your seat, princess. I’ll be quick and then I’ve gotta take a fucking nap cause it’s been a  _ day _ .” 

It occurs to her that it’s barely after mid-day. She sighs, turning to Glimmer.

“I want to speak to you privately.”

Sparkles just narrows her eyes shrewdly. “What could you possibly have to say to me alone?”

“Well, follow me and you’ll see.”

“This feels like a trick.”

“What a stupidly boring trick.”

“Ugh, for the love of the  _ Gods _ ,” Mermista groans. “Just say whatever to her and spare us all this back and forth please.”

“Fine,” Catra says through gritted teeth. “I talked to your dad. I owned up to some shit.” Glimmer looks startled. “I just wanted to tell  _ you _ …I’m sorry about the portal. I’m sorry that the choices I made had that impact. Angella sounds like a real one, sacrificing herself for Adora. So. Sorry.”

For once, Glimmer is stunned silent. The rest of the room seems to follow suit.

Except Mermista. “I didn’t get an apology.”

Catra turns to her. “You got a new gate. Don’t be greedy.”

“Glimmer, is there something you’d like to say to Catra?” Perfuma gently suggests.

Catra isn’t sure if she should be expecting an apology in return or an acknowledgement of how she’s the bigger person, but instead the Queen just looks like she smelled a fart. 

“It’s fine,” Catra mutters. She’s only half-done with her mission and would like to limit the time spent in Glimmer’s presence.

She suddenly perches herself on the arm of Bow’s chair, a little tired from all the talking and feelings and nonsense. After apologizing to Micah and Glimmer, she deserves a vacation and she has just the right place in mind – lots of trees to climb, limited amount of magic, nice weather.

“And because making formal requests is my new thing apparently, I need something from you, Queen Glimmer. I need to leave to clean up another mess. I’ll go to Plumeria and do whatever Perfuma needs.” She waves in the flower princess’s general direction. “I mean, I don't actually know what the kingdom needs but I’m sure Entrapta has a plan already.”

Perfuma smiles sweetly. “Oh, no thank you, Catra.”

That’s all she says. The Commander’s left eye nearly twitches. 

“What?”

Perfuma glances briefly at Glimmer who looks as shocked as Catra feels.

“Plumeria’s resources are abundant and we are not in need of anything at the moment,” she responds. Next, she looks in Catra’s eyes so deeply that she feels it in her bones. It’s pretty unsettling. “You are more than welcome to come for a  _ social _ visit anytime.”

People in this castle really believe in making friends like they’re taking hostages.

“Well,” Glimmer smiles. “If Plumeria isn’t interested, I do have a suggestion.”

And that’s how Catra finds herself in a Horde all-terrain vehicle that Entrapta has “fixed”, cramped together with the tech princess, Sea Hawk, Frosta, and Glimmer. Entrapta handpicked this team and it’s probably because she can sustain herself on pure pandemonium alone. No one was told what to bring or what they would be doing or even who else would be involved until they all stepped on Mara’s ship.

So Catra doesn’t understand how they helped fortify the defenses that were breached during Princess Prom. But Entrapta was cackling so she imagined it worked. What she ended up actually doing was helping their trade routes, using Commander logic to increase efficiency and make it safer. She’s pretty sure Entrapta just drafted up a plan to make a bunch of ice melt though. This is mostly confirmed by her choice of asking Glimmer and Sea Hawk to come. 

The snow uniforms that Entrapta provided are very warm but Catra has no plans of leaving this vehicle because Entrapta mentioned that the suits were  _ fireproof _ in a way that made her fur stand up all over. Inside the vehicle is probably the only safe place.

When they reach wherever they’re going on this ice mountain of death, the other three hop out and follow Entrapta. Catra volunteers to help with tech, which was a good guess on her part for how to get away with doing the least. Entrapta instructs her to watch a monitor that only has one green bar. If the bar turns red, radio Entrapta. Easy enough instruction.

When they leave, Catra of course immediately calls Adora on the second monitor to give her last will and testament.

“Hi, mate!” Adora answers brightly. 

Catra would roll her eyes but it’s too expected by this point. Instead, she gives a disappointed shake of the head.

“Dummy,” is all she says in greeting. “If anything happens to me, I want you and Lonnie to split all of my things.”

“Why would something happen to you?” Adora replies.

Offscreen, she hears Bow ask, “Can you see if she knows where Glimmer is?”

That’s odd. “What do you mean? She’s here.”

There’s some wrestling and now Bow’s on the monitor. “She’s there?! On the mission?” Catra nods. Bow seems almost afraid to ask. “Wh-who else is there?”

“Me, Glimmer, Frosta, Entrapta, and Sea Hawk,” she shrugs. Hearing it out loud is much worse than experiencing it in person at least.

Bow might agree. He’s stopped breathing it seems. Then the tracker pad is dropped or something and Bow and Adora are absolutely screaming at each other to not panic.

“Can you two idiots pull it together please?” Catra tries to interrupt. “We’re actually fine here.”

In the distance, Catra hears an explosion. Nothing to worry about inside the vehicle. She pulls up a third monitor, hoping it’ll show her what’s happening outside. Entrapta has, of course, added cameras to the vehicle, like it’s a submarine or something. Catra blanches, her tail thumping furiously, thinking of how the princess could have built this to be submerged in an avalanche.

“Is it hitting you now?” Adora screeches, watching her. 

Bow presses a few buttons and suddenly the monitor splits into several tiny boxes, the rest of the Alliance appearing on screen from wherever they currently are. Mermista looks pissed.

“ _ That’s _ where that asshole is?! This is like the first time that Sea Hawk has ever successfully kept a secret.”

On the third monitor, Catra can kinda see Sea Hawk up ahead, trying to start a molotov cocktail but being thwarted by the wind. No need to mention that.

Bow says slowly, “So. We’ve sent five agents of chaos on a mission with no supervision.”

“Hey,” Catra interrupts. “I’m here. And I called you.”

“To flirt with Adora,” Bow responds.

Netossa just laughs. “Bet. I'll give any of you to 10 to 1 odds – no survivors.”

“No, Frosta’s scrappy,” Mermista intones. “Glim and Kitty kill each other and Sea Hawk and Entrapta each set themselves on fire accidentally.”

“I'll take that action!” Netossa yells.

“Catra,” Spinnerella says calmly. “You're the most natural leader on this mission. We're counting on you to keep everyone safe.”

That feels like a lot of misplaced trust. This startles Catra greatly, so she just salutes Spinny in pure shock.

“Why did Entrapta hide this from us?” Adora asks.

“Maybe she just forgot?” Catra offers.

“Yeah,” Scorpia agrees. “She’s been so excited about the work that she probably just forgot about the logistics, like personnel.”

It’s possible. Catra doesn’t actually believe it. It’s more likely that Entrapta realized everyone would veto this plan. Watching her on the monitor, wielding what’s essentially a giant blowtorch, while yelling at Glimmer to make her fists ‘hotter’, supports that idea. Frosta is to the side, giant ice fists smashing glaciers.

The rest of the Rebellion is still talking over each other, trying to figure out if and how they should intervene. 

“I’ve been trying to get them to start a dead pool since we got here. If I’m the last one standing, Adora, you get that too.”

In the end, there’s no major injuries. Sea Hawk gets frostbite but that’s about it. Turns out, Entrapta really liked the changes that Catra suggested for the trade routes. She just thought she could make the routes a bit shorter by removing some of the mountains. Frosta didn’t seem to mind or think it was horribly dangerous so they all just went with it.

It was actually almost fun. Frosta treated them to amazing food while they were there. The kid is kind’ve a gremlin but Catra appreciates her ballsiness. Catra and Glimmer were too busy to fight most of the time. Being away from Mermista reduced Sea Hawk’s singing by 85% and he mostly just asked Catra for relationship advice, like she knew a single fucking thing. Entrapta was...Entrapta.

After a week there, Catra almost misses Adora. It’s a weird sensation that she swears hasn’t happened since the first days after Adora defected. The bed she sleeps in at the Kingdom of Snows is too big and drafty. The whole place is too cold without Adora pressed up against her side like she always is now. Catra brought a couple of Adora’s shirts with her but definitely didn’t do anything except wear them cause anything else, like sleeping with them or...anything else...would be weird, right?

On the loneliest nights, Catra would allow herself to wander the castle. The work wasn’t as exhausting as Salineas and she hadn’t tried to kill too many people there, so she usually had the time and mental space to explore a bit.

The ice on everything was annoying as all hell but Frosta and Entrapta had each provided her with enough snow gear. The solitude of the place was actually pretty nice as long as she didn’t let her thoughts run too wild. Late at night, she rarely ran into anyone except the guards but their scowling faces and sharp lances weren’t too threatening with their precious puffy fur-lined coats and boots.

The castle was fucking huge so Catra’s luck in successfully avoiding others was bound to run out eventually. Unfortunately, fate decided to wait until the group’s last night in the Kingdom of Snows, when Catra couldn’t use the excuse of having to get up early in the morning for the mission to politely excuse herself away.

She didn’t even notice Frosta at first, strolling up to Catra as she stared at a huge ice statue of some probably long-dead ruler.

“What are  _ you _ doing here?” the little princess asks.

Catra takes her time looking over and acknowledging her, like she’s so taken with the statue and wasn’t just wondering how badly her claws could scratch it up before someone noticed.

“Out for a stroll,” Catra casually responds.

“Planning on blowing up more things?” Frosta accuses.

Catra notices her pajamas for the first time. A cute little light blue onesie with icicles all over it.

She can’t help her smirk. “Why? So Glimmer can force me back here in a couple weeks to fix everything? You looking to spend  _ more _ time with me, kid?”

Frosta just furrows her brow and grumbles.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be out of your hair come morning,” Catra says, turning to leave.

She makes it a couple steps before Frosta quietly asks, “Are there really kids in the Horde as young as me?”

That stops Catra. “Younger even,” she replies, back still to Frosta, images of being given a staff for training as soon as she was old enough to hold it, dancing in her mind.

“It’s hard to tell. Under the armor, when you’re in battle.”

“Yeah,” Catra laughs ruefully. “Hordak told me he never had the  _ really _ young ones deployed at least. It was a waste of resources, he said, to send a bunch of untrained 8 year olds out. So, if it makes you feel better, you probably only severely wounded  _ former _ child soldiers, not actual kids.”

Frosta makes a sound that’s almost close to a whimper.

Against her better judgement, Catra turns around quickly to check on the tiny goblin. Before she can brace herself, a giant ice fist meets her chin in an undercut. The momentum tosses her up into the air a few feet before she lands on the ice floor, her head making a loud cracking noise that can’t be good.

“What the  _ fuck _ ?!”

She tries shaking it off but it’s been a good while since she’s been suckerpunched senseless like that. Mostly cause she’s been away from Lonnie for months.

“I didn’t know kids on Etheria were being made to do that. While I got to be a princess,” Frosta says bitterly.

“So you fucking  _ punched _ me?” She has to check to make sure all of her teeth are still there and that her chin hasn’t been split open.

“No, I punched you because you’re an asshole.”

“I’m pretty sure you’re not old enough to use language like that.”

In response, the ice-formed fists on Frosta’s hands morph into claws, bearing a strong resemblance to Catra’s.

She hears the swirling magic but it sounds weird, duller than usual. Gods, she can’t really deal with having a mild concussion right now.

Glimmer appears next to Frosta in an instant. 

“Is everything okay?” she directs the question to the tiny princess, rather than Catra still sprawled on the floor.

Frosta, she notices now, seems to have suddenly lost the menacing claws. She smiles a little at Glimmer and nods.

“Catra fell on the ice,” there’s just a bit of amusement in her voice. “Guess cats are slippery?”

_ Oh _ . Frosta’s a  _ psychopath _ . Okay, got it. Glimmer fails spectacularly at hiding a giggle. 

“Why are you up so late?” the Queen asks, with a tone that’s both saccharine and reproachful.

“I had a bad dream,” Frosta replies.

Glimmer nods with a frown, like she’s familiar with the sights of war keeping her up at night too.

“What can I do to help? Warm milk, maybe? Sometimes Bow sings to me when I can’t sleep but my voice is a terrible substitute.”

“Maybe some tea?” Catra offers, brain starting to clear a bit. “When I was your age, we used to fall asleep by imagining that Shadow Weaver was standing at the foot of our bed and we had to lie as still as possible and pretend to be asleep or she’d eat us.”

“...you had to  _ imagine _ that?” Glimmer asks, cocking her head. While Catra contemplates how many times she probably had a literal monster under or around her bed without her knowledge, the Queen turns back to Frosta. “So what do you think?”

Frosta shakes her head gently. “I’m okay. Catra will walk me back to my room.”

Glitter understandably looks surprised for a moment before covering it quickly.

“Okay then. Goodnight, Frosta,” she says, giving the girl a small touch on the shoulder. Without a word to the whole other person in the hall with them, Glimmer begins to teleport a way.

“I’m fine, if you’re wondering,” Catra calls out. The lightshow kinda looks like it’s giving her the finger. Maybe that’s the concussion though.

Frosta glances down at her for a second before turns and heading down the hall.

“This way,” is all she says.

Catra’s slow to stand and get her bearings. Jaw and the back of her head still incredibly sore, she follows.

Bright Moon is huge but the Kingdom of Snows is practically  _ cavernous _ , large and ancient-looking and intimidating. The halls seem to have no end and the ceilings stretch up into darkness. So following a very angry, very tiny magical princess feels even creepier.

Entrapta would notice if Catra didn’t show up on the ship tomorrow, right? Glimmer would helpfully tell people the last place where she was seen alive. Maybe she should leave traces of herself around the castle so Entrapta can track her if Catra mysteriously disappears.

Frosta turns a corner and vanishes into a room. Catra’s ears swivel to try to pick up any sounds but there's nothing suspicious, just the typical creepy castle sounds. She peeks her head into the dark room and she can make out a bed, desk, typical bedroom shit. It looks closer to Adora’s mostly utilitarian space than it does Glimmer’s garish nightmare, but of the limited things that Catra knows about Frosta, she’s picked up that the kid insists on being taken so seriously.

“Glimmer said you had a sleepover,” the tiny princess says, pretending that she doesn’t care at all. She seats herself on her bed.

Catra enters fully then, eyes glancing around the room for threats and/or non-awkward places to sit.

“You’re not staying here,” Frosta clarifies quickly.

“No cuddle pile tonight?” she asks, dryly.

“No,” the princess grumbles back. “Glimmer might be fine with sharing a bed with you but I’m not.” She gets into bed, apparently unconcerned with being this vulnerable around the Horde Commander. “How did you make that happen anyway?”

“The stupid slumber parties? Nah, that’s all Bow.”

“Trusting you,” Frosta clarifies, grunting it out impatiently.

Catra almost sputters but this is one of the princesses that she absolutely cannot let catch her off guard. Trying to get Frosta on her side for a vote is impossible but she’s committed to making sure the kid knows she’s a threat, lest they think Catra’s slipping and try to pull any shenanigans.

“Queen Sparkles doesn’t trust me. She just doesn’t strangle me when we’re in front of people.”

But Frosta’s found a new form of torture and isn’t letting it go easily. “You’re friends.”

“Shut your fucking mouth!” 

Teenagers are fucking scum. Is it fine to throttle one if they have higher ranking than you?

“You think you’re so tough but your only friends are a bunch of princesses,” Frosta continues, twisting the knife. “Tell me how you did that.”

Catra takes a moment to just look confused. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You killed Glimmer’s mom. She forgave you. She won’t tell me why.”

Catra huffs, throwing her arms in the air. “And you think I know? I don’t get any of this shit. If it makes you feel better or helps whatever weird thing this is, I don’t think she forgave me. She’s in shock or something maybe.”

Frosta crosses her arms and seems to think about that.

“My parents were killed. In the war,” she says.

“I thought the Kingdom of Snows was neutral,” Catra replies, turning that over in her head.

“We  _ are _ . My parents attempted to meet with Bright Moon to reconsider their position. Their aircraft was shot down by Horde soldiers. Members of our guard who opposed the neutrality had tipped them off, thinking it was a necessary evil to force our hand.”

Slowly, Catra sits down in the middle of the room, attention fully rapt now.

“What happened?”

“The guards escaped. I did what my parents would have wanted and remained out of the war, until we couldn’t do that anymore. Thanks to  _ you _ .” Frosta shifts, rolling on her side until she’s facing Catra. “What happened to your parents?”

Catra shrugs, trying to make it seem natural. This isn’t something she talks or even thinks about usually.

“I don't remember them. Or really, I spent a long time trying to forget and then when I wanted to remember, I couldn't.”

“You only remember Shadow Weaver.” The princess’s voice is somber.

Catra nods slowly.

“You were a child,” Frosta adds, sounding far away.

It’s unclear what she’s thinking about now, maybe a tiny Catra and Adora on the battlefield. It wasn’t quite that serious, but she isn’t going to interrupt the kid’s moment.

It’s a few long moments before Frosta shifts onto her back again, keeping her eyes on the ceiling when she says, “I was thinking of going through Perfuma and Scorpia’s re-entry plan. There’s a lot of stuff I missed while I was busy learning how to run a kingdom instead. You should take it too.”

“No, thanks. I’m good. I had to learn a lot of shit fast.” To run the Horde. To take down kingdoms. To manipulate Adora and the princesses. Frosta doesn’t need the particulars.

“I feel like there's a lot of things I could teach you.”

Catra arches an eyebrow. “You mean, things I could teach  _ you _ .”

“I like what I said better.”

When they return to Bright Moon, Adora practically tackles Catra as soon as she steps off the ship, lifting her up into the air and spinning her. It’s so fucking goofy and ridiculous and she tries not to mirror Adora’s huge, bright smile.

“Welcome home,” Adora squeals. Glimmer just rolls her eyes and teleports into the castle. Everyone else is polite enough to ignore them and begin unloading.

Unconsciously, she rubs her cheek against Adora’s, ignoring the unwelcome thought in the back of her head that the dummy does indeed smell like ‘home’.

By the time they’re back in their room and everything’s been settled, Adora still hasn’t calmed down.

“Tell me everything,” she begs. “It’s your first Rebellion mission alone.”

Catra tosses herself onto the bed.  _ This _ she definitely missed. 

“Watch it, princess. I’m not a Rebellion member.”

“You know what I mean,” Adora replies, rolling her eyes. Catra’s becoming a terrible influence on her. The blonde lies down as well. “Come on. I want to hear all about it.”

Catra just shrugs. “We destroyed a gorgeous piece of the Etherian landscape. Also, I ate fermented fish. That’s pretty much the mission.”

“You’re the worst,” Adora responds while laughing. 

She moves closer to Catra, lifting up the bottom of her shirt just a few inches. Before Catra can ask what she’s doing, Adora’s head is on her stomach, her mate rubbing her cheek into the soft fur. The purring begins immediately. 

Yet another thing they hadn’t done in years, not after they were caught and told they were “too old” for this. This was one of the ways that they used to connect when they were super busy with training or one of them was hurt or sad. They’d find a corner to hide in and Adora would put her head in Catra’s lap, nuzzling her belly. If anyone else dared to try to give her patronizing tummy rub, Catra would claw their eyes out. Adora always got a free pass though.

“It’s still so soft,” the blonde mumbles. 

Then she does something that she definitely didn’t used to do. She rubs her lips along the outline of Catra’s ab muscles, before nipping her teeth near the other girl’s belly button.

A tiny squeak escapes Catra. And then she hisses, more at herself out of embarrassment than at Adora, who just smirks in response.

“What do you want to do now that you’re back? Are there any foods you missed? Or anything else?” 

Catra doesn’t think she’s completely imagining the implication in Adora’s tone.

She starts pulling at Adora’s shoulder. “Just come up here, dummy. I’m  _ still _ freezing. I need your ridiculous body heat.” 

She tugs at the blonde until Adora’s head is resting on her chest, the rest of her draped across Catra’s prone form. They wrap their arms tightly around each other, just sighing together in contentment. With her eyes closed, the purring lulls them both to sleep for a bit.

When they’re awoken later, it’s already nightfall. Catra realizes that what disturbed her peaceful rest was the buzzing of her tracker pad. Lonnie, who never calls, is suddenly trying to get in touch with her. That’s suspicious. 

Adora doesn’t wake up fully, so Catra grabs the pad and hauls ass to find a quiet, private spot to talk. She ends up on the balcony outside the library, figuring no one will be there at that time like usual.

When she answers the call, it’s Kyle’s frantic face that greets her. “Catra! Oh my God, it  _ is _ you.”

“Yeah, you called me, Kyle. Who were you expecting? Queen Sparkles wearing a mask?”

“I don’t know what that means but we don’t have a lot of time!” he rushes out.

Now Catra’s actually concerned. Are they under attack? Did something happen to Lonnie? This is all the Alliance’s fault for kidnapping her.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Well, I borrowed this from Lonnie so if I don’t get it back before she notices it’s missing, she’ll kill me.”

“Just tell me what’s happening, you imbecile.” She’s already over him and this call has just barely started.

“Look, we’ve still got a bet going but I already owe Lonnie so much. I just need you to give me a sense of when it’ll happen. Maybe I can try to go double or nothing.”

Catra’s brow crinkles in confusion. “When  _ what’s _ gonna happen? What are you morons betting on now?”

He groans. “When you’re gonna kiss Adora, obviously.”

Oh no. Catra breaks out into a cold sweat.  _ Kyle _ knows. This is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened in the history of Etheria. Even fucking Kyle knows that she’s too chickenshit to kiss Adora. This is truly devastating.

Catra’s seen him tie his laces from both shoes together and then have no clue why he keeps tripping. As an adult. She’s seen him eat soap.  _ Also _ as an adult! He can’t be in a position to judge her.

“Kyle.” She’s gone full Commander – back straight as an arrow, face calm and barely restraining the venom, tone damn near deadly. “If you  _ ever _ ask me about my relationship again, I will filet you. Do you understand?”

His loud gulp is answer enough.

“End the bet before I return. Or you’ll all have to  _ hope _ that you live to regret it.”

As soon as she hangs up, she throws her face into her hands. 

“Oh my Gods,” she whines. “Everyone knows I’m fucking loser. My entire  _ legacy _ is now tainted by my stupid mouth.”

Several feet away, someone very quietly winces. Great. Catra didn’t do a full sweep of the room so now she has to kill whoever this witness is too. 

She closes her eyes and lifts her nose in the air, trying to pick up the scent.

“Bow?” she calls out, keeping her voice light. Maybe she can trick him out into the open so she can pounce. “That you, buddy?”

“Yeah, sorry, buddy!” He does sound very genuinely apologetic. There’s the sound of footsteps and then he’s right behind her. “Didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I was just doing some reading when you rushed in.”

Catra sighs. “It’s fine.”

“I barely heard anything,” he says quickly, smart enough to try to spare his own life.

“Uh huh.”

“But,” he teases, “if I  _ had _ heard something, I’d be more than happy to offer whatever kind of support you need.”

Catra swivels quickly to face him, hoping the sudden movement will rattle him. It doesn’t. Bow’s just frozen in place, grinning softly at her. Catra narrows her eyes. Bow keeps smiling.

Fine. This is stupid. His commitment to friendship  _ never _ yields to her need to brood. 

“No, thank you,” she says, trying to sorta sound nice about it.

“Okay, whatever you want.” He shrugs a bit. “Do you need to be alone or do you want to hang out?”

“I’m starving. Can we grab some food?”

“How ‘bout this?” he suggests. “I’ll pick up some and bring it back? You won’t have to deal with the dinner rush.”

Catra easily agrees. While he’s gone, she thinks of ways to cut this whole bet thing off at the knees. She can’t order Lonnie to do it cause Lonnie won’t listen and will make fun of her and will involve more people in the bet. She could ask Rogelio but he’s likely to just try to tell her it’s all in good fun and try to give her a pep talk that she won’t catch all of. Kyle is useless. Her other options are worse than Kyle somehow. She could get Entrapta to build a drone bomb and send it to the Fright Zone, destroying all of them and all knowledge of this ongoing kiss debacle.

Bow returns with all of her favorite foods because of course he remembers. They spread out on one of the tables and talk about the mission while eating. Bow picks Catra’s brain about some other issues in the Kingdoms and they’re both pretty pleased at how helpful she can be.

When he clears his throat, faux-casually, she knows this charade is up.

“It’s not a big deal,” he starts, “but do you need help talking to Adora?”

“No!” Catra hisses immediately. “We are not talking to Adora. About anything. Especially not about anything that you probably misheard and misunderstood.”

“Okay okay. I definitely didn’t hear that you two haven’t been kissing and the whole Fright Zone knows and is betting on when it’ll happen. Got it.”

Catra flings some food at him but he’s quick enough to dodge. Must derail.

“You haven’t kissed Glimmer,” she comments nonchalantly. “No one’s betting on that.”

“To be fair, I’m pretty sure Netossa is. She bets on everything. Also, Glimmer and I aren’t dating. We’re just friends. It’s a bit different for you and Adora.”

“Why?”

“Cause you’re mates?” He seems unsure of his own answer.

“I think you’re presuming a lot about the nature of our relationship,” Catra replies. Now she’s just saying words to fill the space apparently. Bow nods though and lets it drop.

He has a few bites of food and then, “Wait. You’re having sex,” he notes way too loudly. 

Entrapta’s hidden cameras, which Catra definitely believes exist now, are probably picking all of this up. This will likely be an agenda item at the next princess meeting. The trial is looking like a more preferable option now. Maybe Catra will get lucky and they’ll banish her somewhere and she’ll never have to hear about this again.

“I can’t imagine how that’s relevant right now.” She may have been using Commander voice.

Bow does not give a shit. “So you’re doing that but not kissing? Okay.” He thinks to himself for a moment. Then his eyes soften and he gently reaches his hand out to Catra, very slowly telegraphing the move. He’s giving her the option to stop him, she figures. But she lets his hand cover hers. “Catra, do you  _ want _ to be kissing?”

She lets her head drop to the table with a loud thud. “Yes?” comes out mumbled. “No? All the time and also never.”

“Okay,” Bows says. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Not particularly but I will anyway.” She pauses to sit up. She still covers her face a bit with her free hand, a foolish effort to try to retain some of her quickly evaporating dignity. “I’ve got fangs and shit. And Adora’s so soft. What if she’s grossed out or I hurt her?” 

The last part was not supposed to come out. That was locked in a safe that Catra had intended never to even look at or acknowledge.

And now it’s escaped and Bow has heard it.

He rubs the hand he’s holding. “That sounds really scary. You’re not sure what you want. You don’t want to be rejected. You don’t want to hurt her. Are you sure you don’t want to just...talk to Adora?”

Catra groans so loudly that Mermista would be impressed.

“Yep, got it. No talking. So what have you been thinking in terms of a plan?”

She lowers her hand from her face. “A plan to do what?”

“Kiss her. Or don’t, I guess? Maybe – how do you plan on deciding what you want?”

“I was hoping that on the next mission, I’d get lost at sea or something and then boop! Problem solved.”

He laughs, like she’s joking or something. “Have you ever kissed anyone before?”

“Are you hitting on me?” Catra asks dryly. “While I’m confused and vulnerable?”

Bow laughs even louder. “No! I was trying to help you find someone to give you a different perspective.”

“Tried to. She was no help.” She pauses. “I mean, she said some people are into pain, which still implies that it was painful.”

“And also, kinda, like she was into it. Maybe Adora will be too?” 

She doesn’t like that he’s making sense. Catra would prefer someone to affirm her in her irrationality.

“Maybe I’ll try on Glimmer,” she mock-threatens. “She’s someone I wouldn’t mind hurting.”

As expected, Bow is unfazed. “I think you two will be very happy together.”

“Eh. Maybe not. Don’t really want a mouth full of glitter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look! i remembered frosta! she even got to punch catra in the face cause honestly that's one of the most hilarious moments in the show in my opinion.
> 
> we're in the long stretch now. there's only two full chapters left and then the epilogue. i have so so much appreciation for everyone who's sticking with me here.
> 
> chapter 10 preview: it's happening, y'all.


	10. So, So Many More Opportunities Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Princess, no! Did you seriously bring me here for a history lesson and not something fun, like ravishing me on a mountain?”
> 
> Making friends and making up for lost time. Cliffs continue to be a motif.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this silly little story went over 10k hits. that's ridiculous and y'all are amazing.
> 
> Netossa and Spinnerella! Two idiots figuring out what lips are for! Other Very Important Things!
> 
> Yep, it gets explicit briefly towards the end, right around "Catra freezes" and ends with "So good." There's some deep discussions but I think they're more in the "introspection" category and less in the "angst" category. Very brief disassociating.

Yeah, so this princess thing doesn’t make a lot of sense. Adora has basically none of the answers, what a fucking shocker. The more questions Catra asks, the less she finds herself being interested. Windy and Nets are princesses but their allegiance is to Bright Moon.

“So why can’t Scorpia just stay here too?” she asks.

Adora just shrugs, searching for an answer. She’s always been awful at admitting when she doesn’t know the answer to a question. The dummy can be honest when she doesn’t understand her own feelings but if there’s facts involved, suddenly she treats it like a quiz from a force captain, trying to rack her brain like she’s read this before and just needs to locate the information buried in her own giant head.

“Don’t try so hard,” Catra tells her. “You’re making that dumb thinking face. If it gives you wrinkles, I’ll have to leave you.”

Adora laughs, the movement jostling Catra a little. Catra had come into their room to take a nap and Adora joined her soon after, the two of them tangled up in the linens and each other’s limbs. Catra lifts her head up from where it’s resting on Adora’s shoulder.

“You can ask them more about it if you want,” Adora offers.

“Nah, that’s boring. Let’s go through their things and look for clues while they’re distracted.”

“Catra, no!” But Adora doesn’t actually sound that scandalized, dipping her face lower to Catra’s head. It seems like she might go in for a kiss or something but she ends up just nuzzling the other’s mane. Catra lets out the breath she was holding.

“Cancel and stay here with me all day?” 

She doesn’t know when she got so needy. Everyone in Bright Moon wants to talk about feelings all the godsdamn time. It tends to leave Catra feeling vulnerable and drained for days afterward, needing her mate’s reassurances. Adora’s all too happy to give them. The last few days haven’t been too much, though; she’s just felt really at ease in Adora’s company and wants to relax into it as much as possible without examining why at all.

“I wish,” the blonde responds. “This will be good though. It’s kinda the last piece to tie up.”

Ah, yes. The plan that Catra still doesn’t fully know about. She’s poked and prodded about and still just doesn't get Adora’s endgame. Honestly, she’s starting to think that the idiot doesn’t even have one. That makes it a little harder to stay on track with her own plan. 

Adora’s hands begin gently tracing the stripes on her sides. Okay, so maybe a few things are making it hard for Catra to stay on track with her plan to get revenge on Adora.

“Keep that up and we’re not leaving this bed,” she warns lightly. To her disappointment, Adora moves her hands to a much safer spot on her upper back.

“Good point. We need to focus!” Then Adora shoves her face back into Catra’s mane, causing her to laugh.

“What are you doing now?” Ugh, her voice sounds so charmed. What a terrible mush she’s become.

“I’m focusing,” comes out mumbled. “Grounding in my purpose helps me prepare for missions.” Catra continues to giggle.

The mission is fairly simple. Adora’s hoping to use Catra’s non-existent people skills to secure more allies in the Rebellion. Gods know, she did her best with Mermista and Frosta. So that just leaves Netossa and Glimmer as their main foils on the path to Catra’s freedom. Glimmer’s a fucking wildcard so neither of the couple is sure how to solidify her support – she’s been not a full-on monster to Catra lately but conditions are still icy at best. Adora’s fairly certain that Netossa just needs to get to know Catra better.

So the dumb Princess of Power has drawn out two primary objectives: become ‘friends’ with Netossa and Spinnerella and make sure that Nets is on their side. Catra tried to explain that making friends is not a proper covert mission goal but Adora refused to be swayed. It’s most likely cause she never seems to know where she stands with the couple, Netossa especially, and wanted to force her friendship on them anyway.

With only the slightest hint from Adora, Spinnerella had set up the plans for today. A short visit at their rooms in Bright Moon, some tea, and maybe a game. Catra’s only interested in the game and Adora’s been teasing her about it all week, saying they probably won’t get to it unless Catra’s a good kitten and behaves herself and the mission is a success. 

Unsurprisingly, all of this teasing has led them to fucking more than once in the past few days.

They eventually wrench themselves out of bed, Adora insisting that they be punctual the whole time. Like a nerd. Not even one second late, they knock on Netossa and Spinnerella’s door and are greeted by the latter as she welcomes them in quickly. Their space is set up closer to a suite with a full sitting area where Spinnerella’s set up a small lunch with sandwiches and pastries and tea. Netossa is leaning against the wall, not _quite_ glaring but definitely inspecting Catra and Adora at least.

“We brought booze,” Catra says, trying to force her voice to be a little more enthusiastic than she feels. She has to admit that Netossa is a pretty bad bitch. She thinks she could take the older woman in a fight but isn’t too confident about matching up against her in these dumb political games. “From the Kingdom of Snows so it’s probably good.” 

Spinnerella giggles slightly as she hands it over. “Can I interest either of you in a glass?”

Adora shakes her head no. 

Catra adds, “I don’t drink much. It’s a gift, I guess. Bow says that’s a thing.”

Netossa tuts. “I heard you had a ball at the taverns in Salineas, soft kitty.” 

Fucking Mermista. Catra hates the familiarity from this asshole – she’s a _Commander_ after all – but lets it slide for the mission. If this is how the whole playdate’s gonna go, though, Adora’s gonna owe her big time.

“Yeah, that was my first and last time drinking like that.”

“Thank you, both. This was kind of you,” Spinnerella reponds. 

She encourages them to take a seat, pours them both tea, and politely pretends to ignore how rudely they scarf down the food.

“Thanks for having us,” Adora says with her mouth full.

“Show some table manners, princess,” Catra hisses at her, mouth also full.

Spinnerella is amused at least. Finally, she turns to her wife. “Are you planning on joining us, darling?”

In response, Netossa makes a very judgy sound that’s somewhere between a hum and huff. But she sits down next to her partner nonetheless.

“How has your stay in Bright Moon been, Catra?” Spinnerella asks kindly.

Catra knows she has to push herself to not to instinctively clam up. It still takes her a moment to form what she thinks will be a normal human response. Not that she’s human or anything. 

“Interesting, I guess. I like the food and the napping spots. Entrapta and Scorpia aren’t so bad either.”

“And Bow!” Adora adds. “You’re having a good time with him. And maybe Sea Hawk? It’s hard to tell, honestly.” She’s trying way too hard already.

“Meh. Still on the fence about Fire Freak. Other folks have been alright though. It’s…” she tries to conjure something just vulnerable enough to say without showing her cards too much, “...difficult to be away from home. The waiting part isn’t great either, but what can you do, ya know?” She ends with a shrug.

“You like the missions,” Adora jumps in again.

“Yeah,” Catra agees, “if you told me when I was in cadet training that kingdom infrastructure would be the role I liked the most when I got older, I would have probably clawed you. It’s good to have something to focus on here. It’s what I do best in the Horde to-”

“Next to planning attacks?” Netossa interrupts with a scrutinizing stare.

Catra smiles, trying to make sure it doesn’t come off as too sly. “Well, I’ve been honing my governance skills for the last year. Offensive strikes? Not so much.”

“You had some great victories. Why’d you pull back?”

It’s a good question, one that nobody else besides Adora has really asked her yet. 

“Survival.”

They all look at her curiously.

So she continues, “I watched Hordak die. So then I was #1. Me and Adora always said we wanted to rule the Horde. I actually got to do it. What was I supposed to keep fighting for after that? The honor of the Horde? Land I didn't care about or need?” Torturing Adora, who had clearly moved on?

“Power, I'd imagine,” Netossa replies.

“I've got plenty of power. Losing my best soldiers over an issue of principle isn't gonna get me more.”

“Yeah, well, I wished you'd realized that before attacking us so many times.”

“I was trained to win this war since I was 4. I don't expect any of you princesses to understand.” She doesn't. They've had families and lives and vacations and relationships. They can't even comprehend her reality.

“Adora defected.”

“Adora's _She-Ra_. That's an unreasonable standard to live up to.” Catra takes a breath, tries not to sound defensive. “She's got a destiny and all that shit. I had to fight for recognition and respect and the Horde was the only place I knew. Sometimes I fought dirty.”

Spinnerella jumps in before Netossa can volley it back to Catra. “Okay, let's try to focus on the present.”

Netossa immediately takes advantage of that opening. “I agree. Presently, Catra, if you weren't here and facing a trial, would you still be helping rebuild the kingdoms of Etheria?”

Well, that's an easy one and not a deep dive into her messy head. 

“No.”

If Adora could disappear, she'd probably try now. She's stock still, clearly trying to will a way out of this. Spinnerella looks a little shocked, maybe not at the answer but at the way it was given. Netossa smugly is projecting that she won this round.

“I had no reason to. We learned battle scenarios, not how to make friends with your defeated foes. The aftermath wasn't something I ever had to face. Seeing it now, I guess I understand that there are other interventions before mutually assured destruction.”

Netossa sighs, like she's not getting what she needs out of this. 

“Look, I'll be honest with you, kid.”

“Have you not been this entire time?” Catra asks sarcastically.

Netossa blows past that. “I don't care about the land disputes or any of the optics nonsense. I just want to know if you’ve really changed. Where’s the proof?”

That feels like a bucket of cold water and Catra scrambles to figure out why. They all sit in silence while she turns that over in her mind. Yeah, in hindsight she might have done some things a bit differently. Doesn’t everyone say that though? Sure, don’t open the portal – Hordak would have done it anyway eventually. Don’t replace Hordak’s shitty strategies with viable ones – some other idiot would have ended up in charge and done far worse probably. Catra’s successes kept her alive, able to be in this place right now.

If the Rebellion had come to her in the Fright Zone and asked for support to rebuild, she wouldn’t have given it. Maybe she would have leveraged the support to get something she needed or just to hurt them more. Who knows? They didn’t, though. She offered, under very different circumstances, and followed through. There’s no way to know what choices you’ll make until you’re faced with them.

“That’s bullshit,” is what actually falls from her lips. “I can’t just tell you I’ve changed and say ‘look at all the nice shit I’ve done since I’ve been here’, under limited stress with lots of time and my full sense of self-preservation intact. Hell, _I_ don’t even know if I’ve changed. There’s no measurement for that. We don’t know what we’re capable of, what’s important to us until shit really hits the fan. Until we’re faced with the same situations we’ve been in before and we’re able to choose to do something differently.”

Catra chances a glance at Adora to gauge how badly she just fucked this all up. To her surprise, Adora’s giving her an inscrutable look, a little awe mixed with something else that the blonde has never shown her before. Adora leans into her mate, taking her hand under the table. A look passes between Spinnerella and Netossa, some silent pointed conversation.

Feeling self-conscious in the silence, Catra chuckles dryly and awkwardly. “We’re not gonna agree on this. Why don’t we just play a game instead?”

Adora turns to her in confusion. “You still want to stay?” She motions with her head at Netossa, who looks like an immovable force.

Catra shrugs. “Yeah, duh.” When Adora still doesn’t catch on, she adds, “We came over to make friends, not just as part of your dumb ‘Operation: Save Catra.’ Don’t worry, princess, the mission still has a 50% chance of success. I think, at least.”

Spinnerella laughs, a sound that feels foriegn in all this tension. 

When they all turn to her with questioning gazes, she just says fondly, “Sometimes I forget that besides being war heroes, you're also just kids.” She exchanges another intense look with Netossa.

With a sigh, Netossa relents. “Fine. I’ll set up the net in the gardens.”

Awkward conversation aside, Catra considers the day a win. They decided to teach her Netball, a game that they clearly made up when bored during missions. It was supposed to be a relaxed two-on-two match just to keep the ball off the ground while aiming to get your opponents to drop it on their side. 

Turns out the couple was almost as competitive as her and Adora. Netossa, in particular, was a vigilant scorekeeper and her constant reminders kept Catra on her toes and overly committed to taking the two down. She was probably as stubborn as the Commander but by the end of 4 rounds and a tie, Adora convinced Netossa and Catra that a handshake would be good sportsmanship. They managed to only sorta turn it into a contest over who had the strongest grip.

Throwing herself into bed for a quick nap, Catra tells Adora, “If I don’t end up in a cell or banished, I’d go on a triple-date with them and Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie just to see Netossa get smoked in Netball.”

Once she gets to her desk, Adora, ever rational, replies, “Three-on-two feels like cheating. Also, you know what a triple-date is?”

Catra grins slyly, “I know all sorts of things about dates.”

The blonde turns a bit pink to Catra’s delight. 

“Th-that’s good to know,” she stutters out. Her gears are turning for a second before she near-screams, “Wait, Rogelio, Kyle, and Lonnie are _dating_?!”

Catra can’t hold back from cackling at how oblivious Adora is. “Did you not know?! They’re together all the time.”

“So? _We_ wer-.” She pauses. “I guess that argument doesn’t hold up anymore.” Adora chuckles to herself at the thought of what is probably an excuse that she used to deflect from questions about her relationship with Catra for years. “Our entire squad is together? Huh. I never would have imagined that.”

Before Catra can overthink that too much, Adora moves on. 

“So you liked Netossa and Spinnerella? You really want to hang out with them again?”

With a shrug, Catra replies, “They were a good enough time. You know, I _have_ learned that it’s possible to disagree with a person without them becoming your mortal enemy.” 

Adora lets out a full, lilting laugh at that. When it ends, she gazes at Catra with a huge grin, pride very evident in her eyes. 

“Can I tell you something that you’re definitely going to make fun of me for?” Without waiting for an answer, she continues, “I noticed that you didn’t get angry a single time we lost or one of us messed up.”

Catra would like to ask why Adora thinks so little of her that that counts as a victory. But honestly, she’s met herself and she knows that she’s a nightmare a lot of the time. Catra puts so much pressure on herself that even a supposedly ‘fun’ game can lead to a total meltdown if it doesn’t work out for her. Really, she hadn’t noticed the difference this time at all. It was a good game and Nets and Windy were worthy opponents.

“I didn’t?” she asks Adora, half-fishing for more.

“Yeah, you were just gentler with yourself, I guess. You didn’t blame yourself or yell at me or storm off when you missed a shot.” Adora’s smile somehow grows even more. “It’s the most... _free_ , I guess, that I’ve seen you in a long time. I’m glad you’re starting to really let everyone in.”

Catra acknowledges that with a nod, before yawning and rolling over for her nap. As she drifts off, she allows herself to think about that. It _has_ been a minute since she’s thrown a straight up fit. She meant what she said to Netossa, how do you measure change? And what the hell is she supposed to be changing into anyway? 

Bright Moon is full of suckers and Adora’s the biggest one. Catra’s still just Catra. There’s no changing that.

A few days later, Adora convinces her to sneak out of the castle for a surprise. Catra hates surprises. Adora knows this. Catra trusts things that she can see and feel and is naturally suspicious that everything else is a trick.

“Please,” Adora whines over breakfast. “I promise you’ll like it...I think.”

“No, thanks.”

“Please. I’ll bring all of your favorite snacks,” Adora offers while they’re sparring.

“Nope.”

“Come on, Catra. It’s a good surprise. Please come with me,” Adora begs, while Catra recovers from her orgasm. “I’ll let you tie me up next time.” She’s making some strong bedroom eyes and Catra’s brain is still scrambled from cumming all over her hands.

“Hmm, what makes you think I want that?” She tries to sound casual but her voice comes out all breathless, hips already starting to jerk on their own again.

Adora blushes but puts on her confident smirk. 

“I know how much you like being in control,” she whispers, the hand that’s between her mate’s legs starting to move purposefully again. “Think about my muscles straining to get out so I can touch you while you tease me, grind on my thigh, my abs. My _face_.” 

Catra’s responding moan is just loud enough to drown out Adora’s teasing laugh.

After her second orgasm, someone agrees to join Adora for the surprise. It sounds like Catra’s voice, almost, but she’s pretty sure she was unconscious by then so that’s impossible.

They use the same diversion that they employed for their visit to Razz. Just Swift Wind being the most obnoxious being on Etheria. Unfortunately, they’re going farther away so Catra actually has to ride on the dumb horse with Adora. It’s not as terrifying as she imagined it to be but she’s definitely a ground person, no more flying or boats if she can avoid it moving forward.

The journey is pretty far, taking up about a quarter of the afternoon. Adora leads them to a part of Etheria that Catra’s never visited before, a hilly, undeveloped land. From the air, she can see Dryl peeking out of the far distance.

Swift Wind drops them at a nearby stream and Adora leads her the rest of the way, holding her hand.

“This isn’t like those Horde wilderness survival drill weekends where you’re leaving me here with a bedroll and a knife to see if I can make it in the wild, right?”

Adora’s up ahead so Catra can’t see her roll her eyes but she definitely _feels_ it.

“Wouldn’t be much of a mate if I did that. Besides, the wildest thing out here by far is you.”

After a while longer of walking, which feels like an eternity due to Catra asking how far away they are constantly, they come to a small cliff. Cliffs are a weird thing in their relationship, Catra thinks; they always seem to be throwing each other off of one. 

Adora stops and turns to her.

“Okay, are you ready?”

Catra responds by shoving Adora out of the way and storming past her. She gets to the cliff’s edge and takes a look around. Before her is a vast valley, mostly hard mud but there’s some vegetation. It’s protected to the north by a small range of high, green mountains, while the stream where they left Swift Wind weaves down the southside.

“Well,” Catra begins, “you definitely didn’t pack enough for camping. So what am I looking at here?”

Adora takes a deep breath. Catra’s familiar with this particular quirk. That means she’s going to recite a bunch of facts.

“Catra, many years ago, the Magicats lived in the kingdom of Halfmoo-”

Catra interrupts. “Princess, no! Did you seriously bring me here for a history lesson and not something fun, like ravishing me on a mountain?”

Huffing, Adora pleads, “This is important, kitten.”

“Yeah, don't call me that until the ravishing starts,” Catra replies, crossing her arms.

“The Kingdom of Halfmoon,” Adora continues loudly, “was believed to be hidden underground somewhere in this mountain range. The exact location has been lost to time and I don’t think any of us wants to live in the ground. But! There’s this unoccupied valley that I found nearby. The Magicats had a lot of rich traditi-”

Catra interrupts again, “Hey dummy, has it ever occurred to you that I can't be the last survivor of a lost people? I don't need that type of pressure in my life.”

The sound that escapes the blonde is somewhere between a panicked laugh and a frustrated cry. 

“Well, yeah, I know. Look, I know you’re probably not a Magicat. But the _Rebellion_ doesn't need to know that.” 

She closes her eyes for a second and takes another deep breath. This one sounds more like her ‘feelings’ breath than her ‘useless facts’ one.

“Catra, I’m not from this planet.”

The Commander goes completely still while she tries to process that. Adora looks like a lot of other folks from Etheria. Maybe more aggressively blonde. Plus the thing where she turns into a 8-foot tall muscle jock wet dream sometimes. 

Catra’s whole life, Etheria's been the only planet in the galaxy. Then the stupid Heart of Etheria teleported them all somewhere and there's no way of knowing what's beyond these new stars. 

“What does that mean?” Catra asks slowly. 

Adora looks unsure. “I don’t know, really. I’m a First One. I’m from some place called Eternia. I don’t know who, if anyone, is waiting for me.” 

Catra realizes her hands are shaking when Adora takes them into her own. 

The surprise is that Adora's leaving again. This turnabout would be hilarious if it wasn't such a fucking tragedy.

“I don’t know how to get back. I've accepted that. Because you,” Adora releases Catra’s hands to cup her face, “are the only home I've ever known. I’m sorry that it took me so long to realize that. I’m sorry it took me _leaving_ to realize that.”

Catra must be shaking all over cause Adora pulls her closer, wrapping her arms around her mate's shoulders.

“Baby, there’s other people like us – orphans, the last of their kind, people who lost their homelands and families during the war. The new Halfmoon could provide a place for them. _We_ could provide a place for them. With your leadership and my–”

“Do you want to kiss me?” 

It was probably going to be a lovely speech. Perfect, like Adora. But completely unnecessary. Obviously, Catra was going to go anywhere Adora was, especially if the entire point of this absurd adventure for the past few months had been for the dummy to give her a _whole fucking kingdom_ that they could build and run together. 

Adora remembered their childhood promises to rule together one day. Adora wants to _stay_.

The princess looks completely caught off-guard, and honestly probably disappointed to not get to give her speech, but says, “Yes.”

Rather than pulling Catra in for a kiss, Adora releases her. To turn towards the cliff edge and whoop and cheer. Like an absolute goober. 

The sound bounces and echoes, Adora's voice surrounding Catra, making her feel warm all over.

Still waiting on that kiss.

Adora's bright smiling face turns back to her, so fucking beautiful. “So you’ll stay?” 

That steals all the air from Catra’s lungs. She had imagined Adora saying those words a million times. Had wished for them, dreamt about them for years. 

When wishes and dreams had failed, she created a battle strategy for this.

This was Catra’s moment. She could get her revenge for being left behind finally. She could crush Adora, leave her here in this land where she wanted to create a home for them. That would be amazing penance really for how Adora had left their home – their _bed_ – in the middle of the night with an empty promise to return.

Catra wouldn't even have to do much. Just turn and put one foot in front of the other. Just open her mouth and say no.

She feels stuck in place though, her whole body suddenly going deadly still. Fury and grief and indignation and so much more that she can’t identify yet threatening to rise up, bringing tears to her eyes. 

Adora’s gazing at her with so much earnest hope and love in her eyes. Slowly, her grin is starting to slip. She's reaching for Catra's hands again, worry tainting her brow.

“Catra…?”

That familiar sensation of her consciousness floating away, outside of her body, starts to build.

“Catra, is-is this okay?”

She tries to swallow it down. Focus on the wind. Focus on the sound of the stream. Focu-

 _For fuck's sake, dummy, just do something_ _!_

So Catra does something. Puts one foot in front of the other. Tilts her head and slightly parts her lips. Takes Adora in her arms and kisses her, grounding herself in her mate’s embrace.

Adora gasps as soon as their lips touch, before diving back in again. She moves slowly and tenderly, weaving her hands into Catra's hair. Her lips are so soft and this all feels so right that Catra would probably topple over if her arms weren't wrapped around Adora for support.

The trouble is Catra actually does lose her footing when Adora pulls her mane, tilting her head back, and nips against Catra's mouth, asking for entrance. When Catra parts her lips, Adora's tongue immediately seeks hers out. They meet and the sensation freezes Catra for a second in her tracks, but Adora godsdamn _moans_ in a way that’s damn near _lewd_. 

Catra’s left foot slips, just a tad and that's all it takes for her to go tumbling down the cliff side, ass over tit, taking Adora down with her. 

Worth it.

Mercifully, the cliff side isn't too hard or steep and they manage not to accidentally brain each other on the way down. The two land a few meters apart before Adora's immediately on her feet to check Catra over for injuries.

“I'm fine, princess,” she grumbles. “The only damage is to my good name.”

Satisfied with that, Adora's suddenly all over her, kissing her mate like she almost just lost her again. Catra's just lucky for the solid ground she's pressed against when Adora starts sucking her tongue and trying to feel her up in the countryside.

Fine. Maybe the Commander can admit to herself that possibly a small part of her obsession with kissing wasn’t just about her fangs and her stupid sharp tongue. Maybe, just _maybe_ , it was about offering herself to Adora and being denied yet again. Except, well, whatever it is that she’s doing seems to be working cause Adora hasn’t stopped moaning so she’s probably not plotting to run away.

 _Gods_ , Catra has never felt so full. But, like, emotionally – is that a _thing_? It’s all threatening to spill out, like a fucking burp.

“Iloveyou,” gets swallowed up by the blonde's mouth. 

It seems to take Adora’s brain a second to process what she just heard. She tries to pull back from the kiss to respond. 

“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” Catra adds quickly.

Adora smiles at her for a long moment, eyes starting to water. Then she just laughs and tugs Catra in for another kiss.

When they’re both short of breath, lips starting to puff, Catra pulls back again. 

“How did you even find this place? I thought you didn’t have a final plan.”

Adora’s already bright red so it’s hard to tell if she’s blushing more. 

“I’m not always a _terrible_ liar. I wanted you to be able to see it first.” She pauses and now she’s definitely blushing more. “When the time was right. We could have a really great future here, Catra. We could build something – for us, for others looking for a home of their own. You could rule-”

“I prefer _lead_ or _govern_. Sounds less princess-y.”

“Well, you’ll have to be a princess,” Adora points out. “Technically, you’re already one, right?”

“Nah.” Catra crosses her arms behind her head, relaxing into the dirt. “I’ll be King Catra...No, Lord Catra...Shit, Lord King Catra!” Adora does not look impressed. “I’ll let you be Queen Adora, unless you’re stuck on settling for Princess Adora.”

“Fine, if that’s your heart’s greatest desire, we can be Lord King Catra and Queen Adora.”

“I’ll still probably call you ‘princess’ just to keep you humble.”

“Can you take this seriously please?” Adora asks, sounding only kinda frustrated. “I want to hear what you think. What do you want to build? You haven’t even told me if you’ll stay.”

Huh. What _would_ they build? How do you plan for the future when you never thought you'd be old enough to have one? For so long, all Catra ever knew for sure was that she wanted Adora by her side no matter where they ended up.

“I’m already staying, dummy,” Catra mumbles. This feels like the easiest question to answer. “I’ve been ‘staying’ this entire time, if you haven’t noticed. So yeah, to the long lost kingdom of Halfmoon or whatever.” 

She salutes.

Adora’s nerves kick in. She starts wringing her hands, her eyes getting wilder. “Are you sure? I’m sorry I sprung this on you. It seemed like the only way for us to be together, like we always said, and for everyone to get what they wa-”

She’s cut off by Catra’s lips on hers again.

“I love it. I love you.” When Adora attempts to respond, Catra cuts her off once again. She’s still not quite ready for the possibility of hearing (or _not_ hearing) those words yet. “Let’s get back to the castle before Glimmer catches me missing. We can try kissing in a more civilized environment.”

On the ride back, they kiss a few more times, Catra leaning back in Adora’s arms as they slowly move together. But between the altitude and Swift Wind repeatedly asking them why they’re being so quiet, Catra can’t relax enough to be sure that she's doing it correctly.

As soon as they're back in their room, Adora is on Catra, pinning her against the door with her body and kissing her. Finally getting so much of what she wanted, Catra can’t help but fight and only ends up forcing Adora to pin her wrists above her head. Losing’s never felt so good.

Adora smirks into the next kiss. “You like that?” 

She only gets a whining moan in response. Adora moves both of Catra’s wrists to her left hand, freeing her right so she can reach down and hoist the girl up by her hips. Catra has just enough presence of mind left to wrap both of her legs around the blonde’s waist.

“You love how strong I am?” Adora teases.

“Shut up,” Catra moans, pushing their lips together again.

“You love how I can toss you around, make you do whatever I want, kitten?”

“Prepare to be disappointed,” Catra laughs. She stops when Adora bites down on her lip hard. Catra’s hips jerk to rub against Adora’s stomach.

“You love how I take care of you?”

“I’m going to make you _beg_ for mercy when it’s my turn,” Catra warns.

“Promises, promises,” Adora mumbles, before lifting Catra away from the door and carrying her across the room to their bed. 

They only almost fall twice, mostly because Catra begins grinding in earnest and Adora temporarily forgets how to walk as a result. 

After lowering Catra to sit on the edge of the bed, Adora undresses them both quickly. The entire time, she takes breaks to sneak in short kisses, her tongue and teeth coming in frenzied.

Kissing evokes a feeling that Catra’s had so many times with Adora these last few months – it’s mostly ‘holy fuck, how have we not been doing this earlier?’ It’s hard not to feel like so much time was wasted. On bitterness, on fighting, on resentment and competition and deceit. But they’re still young. The war is over. They have so, so many more opportunities left.

Adora only pulls back to gently demand, “Tell me what you want, kitten.”

Catra freezes. This had been what she asked for that first night they were together. Adora’s never said no to any request. Something about saying one specific desire out loud feels like a level of bravery that she can’t quite achieve right now. 

Plus, Catra’s already done a thing today! She said she loved Adora and she didn’t follow through on her revenge plan so she deserves to not be humiliated when Adora rejects her.

She has some options, besides just being honest with the person she loves and trusts most in the universe. She could pull Adora’s hair and force the girl exactly where she wants her. She could take over and order Adora to do what she wants, while avoiding saying any of the specific words of course, but it doesn't seem like that's the vibe right now. 

Catra must look like she's panicking.

“It's okay,” Adora tells her gently. “I'll take care of you, kitten.”

Adora’s lips are on her again, at her mouth, the base of her ears, her neck. Catra arches her back slightly and Adora moves down to her nipples for the first time, tonguing at one while taking the other between her fingers. 

When Adora brings her teeth into the equation, Catra finally decides to throw her a hint. 

“ _Gods_ , you’re not bad with that mouth, princess.” Eh, close enough.

“You feel really good in my mouth. Want to try something new?”

Catra practically pulls a muscle nodding. Then Adora’s down on her knees, throwing Catra’s legs over her shoulders. She looks up to make eye contact before moving forward and suddenly stops.

“What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” Catra mumbles. Like a total liar.

The princess begins marking along her thighs. So so close. She moves to nibbling and then escalates to full-on biting before Catra’s nearly shredded the sheets in frustration.

“Fine,” she whines. Adora stops to give her full attention. “I don’t think I can reciprocate.”

With a crinkle in her brow, Adora says, “That's fine. I still want to please you.” 

Godsdamnit. Thoughtful idiot.

“It’s very...intimate.”

“So? I love you,” Adora says for the first time, like it’s so fucking simple and obvious. She doesn’t even give Catra a moment to freak out, moving right along. “I don’t have a problem with that. Do you have a problem with it?”

The answer is probably yes. “No. I cum really hard sometimes. What if you...drown?” That last part is said so quietly that she hopes Adora doesn’t catch it. The resulting laugh confirms that she definitely did.

“What an honorable way to die then.”

Adora’s tongue, fully confident and sure, touches her clit and Catra’s pretty sure they should cancel their plans for the year and just focus on this. Adora laps long, languid strokes from her hood to her entrance until Catra’s begging for more. The blonde switches to short pointed licks directly on her clit before sucking it into her mouth.

She maintains eye contact with Catra the whole time, almost like she’s daring her mate to react. Catra’s vocal and grinds her hips a little but tries to hold back so she doesn’t hurt Adora.

The princess puts up with this for just a bit longer before she growls, grabbing Catra’s hands and forcing them into her own blonde locks. When that doesn’t escalate past some gentle scratches, Adora stops and stands, picking Catra up again.

“I’m sorry,” jumps out of the Commander’s mouth. “I’ll be good.”

Adora laughs and kisses her, getting Catra’s taste on both of them. 

“Baby, you’re being so good.” She lies down with Catra straddled across her waist. “Now, I want you to be really good and come ride my face. I know that’s what you really want.”

It’s the most gorgeous, amazing thing anyone’s ever said to Catra.

“Fuck, I love you so fucking much,” she responds. 

Adora’s still mumbling, “That’s all it takes?!” when Catra positions herself over Adora’s face, knees on both sides of the girl’s head. She barely has time to balance her hands against the wall before Adora’s strong arms are pulling her down to take a proper seat.

It’s fucking glorious. The more Catra bucks against her mouth, the harder Adora grips her thighs and cradles her clit with her tongue. She rocks harder until two fingers are slipped inside her and she has to grab Adora’s hair a little too hard to stay upright. Adora just sucks and fucks her harder, her face flushed until Catra cums all over it.

Afterwards, Adora tries to keep going but Catra is forced to tap out and catch her breath. No need to ruin this by trying to be greedy. This time. Adora has to help her mate lie down and then positions her into her arms, where Adora just marks her while she relaxes.

“So good,” the princess mutters against her throat. “Do you know how much I’ve always loved your body? Loved how your fur feels against me? Loved how your teeth and claws feel on my skin? Hmm?”

Catra shakes her head absently. She’s smiling but fortunately Adora can’t see it from where she’s nestled against Catra’s tits.

“Is that why you think you can’t reciprocate?”

Catra groans, blissful cocoon shattered. Adora shifts to place her thumb at Catra’s lips, raising an eyebrow with a challenge. Catra opens her mouth slightly. Hoping to one-up the princess, she takes the thumb all the way, swirling her tongue around it suggestively before giving it a soft bite.

“You’re such a good kitten,” Adora whispers. Her thumb is replaced by her tongue, exploring Catra’s mouth. She licks a fang, drawing a moan out of both of them. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for so long.”

Catra clears her head long enough to ask, “Yeah? Why didn’t you then?”

Adora moves them so they’re both comfortably cuddling again. 

“I don’t know. I thought you might not be into it. You kinda panicked every time I came near your mouth.”

Yeah, that sounds about right.

“You could have kissed me,” Adora points out.

“I was too busy panicking, duh.”

Adora chuckles. “Honestly, I thought we _were_ kissing this whole time, in our own way. When we were marking each other.”

“Hmm. Yeah, that was alright. Kissing’s pretty alright too.”

“And eating you out? Is that ‘alright’ or ‘pretty alright’?” Adora asks with a wicked grin.

“Adora!” Catra exclaims, pretending to be scandalized. “Where does a princess pick up language like that?”

“Usually from hanging around with you. I think Mermista taught me that one though.”

“Just the phrase, not the technique, right?”

“Catra!” Adora ignores the responding cackle. More quietly she asks, “What do you think we were waiting for?”

The Commander buries her face in Adora’s shoulder. “I don’t know what your problem was but I’ve been getting a lot of mixed signals from this blonde dummy that follows me around and never says anything plainly.”

“Mixed signals?!” Adora’s suddenly sitting up and peering down at her with incredulous eyes. “Are you kidding? It’s really hard to tell sometimes if you’re kidding.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Oh my Gods, Catra, you seriously didn’t know that I loved you and wanted you so badly?”

“How, pray tell, was I supposed to know that, Adora?” 

This is a fake fight, right? They’re joking...probably. It seems like it could go south soon though cause Adora is actually looking semi-frustrated. But Catra will not admit defeat so she crosses her arms and waits for an answer.

“We were mates!” Adora reminds her.

“We didn't know what that meant,” Catra responds nonchalantly.

“We were having sex! Like, a lot.”

“I didn't know if that meant anything to you.” That’s true. Catra spent a good amount of time convincing herself that maybe Adora was just into casual sex. It had no basis in any reality that she was familiar with, but it was a good deflection.

As if she can read Catra’s thoughts, Adora declares, “You took my virginity.”

This is not important at all. However, it does confirm Catra’s suspicions that they were both floundering around together, on common ground.

“I thought it was because of the bite! You said you couldn’t figure out what was you and what was the bite.”

Adora rolls her eyes. “I meant, I couldn’t separate wanting to have sex with you from wanting to hold you down and fuck you til you were _mine_. I realize now that both of those desires were real and mine and the bite was psychosomatic or whatever – I made Bow explain it after you started acting weird.” 

Catra shudders at the image of Adora holding her down and claiming her, definitely now ready to fuck again. Adora ignores her completely.

“We slept in the same bed.”

“We've always done that.”

“I told you we'd been together forever.” Catra does vaguely remember that. She had tried not to give it much thought at the time and then a lot more confusing things happened that she needed to focus on avoiding having feelings about. “I told you I belonged to you. And I know how good your hearing is, you must have heard me talking to other people about you a dozen times.”

“Fine,” Catra concedes, sitting up too now. “For once, _I_ was the idiot. I'm sorry. Happy?”

Adora hums. “Tell me what your plan was and I will be.”

Sheer panic strikes Catra. Adora doesn’t back down from anything. She’s not going to let this go.

“What was your plan if I didn't want to stay?” Catra asks, trying to stall.

“I would have given you Halfmoon,” Adora says like it’s nothing. “Or kept fighting for you to be returned to the Fright Zone. Whatever you wanted really.”

Catra sighs. Adora always was the bigger person. After months of secretly scheming, she knows that she has to come clean. She can deflect but that’ll just make Adora more hell-bent on learning the truth. She can flat-out lie but...could she? After seeing Halfmoon? After learning how much Adora’s committed to their future together?

She looks down, not ready to see Adora's eyes.

“I...was going to leave you.” Catra pauses to let that sink in for Adora. She can feel her ears lowering and her tail coming to life, twitching in agitation. “I had planned to wait until the end of this clusterfuck, ban you from the Fright Zone or wherever I ended up, and break your heart like you broke mine.” 

The next thing she knows, she’s being crushed into a hug. Adora whispers she’s sorry over and over again until the fur on Catra’s shoulder is soaked with the blonde’s tears. She expected Adora to be upset, demand a reason why. Not take on the blame herself. Stupid, noble idiot.

“It’s fine,” Catra mumbles into her hair. “I forgive you.” She pulls back so she can look into Adora’s eyes. “I do. You shouldn’t even be apologizing. Adora, you left the Horde to do good. You didn’t leave _me_. And you didn’t leave to be cruel.”

Catra takes a deep breath, wiping her now-wet eyes. “ _I_ hurt you. Intentionally. Over and over again. I would have done anything to get your attention, even if it was negative attention. I just wanted to be in your general orbit and I didn’t care who I had to hurt to do that. I fucked up. A whole lot. I just wanted to know that I meant something – _anything_ – to you.”

“Baby, you mean literally _everything_ to me,” Adora replies but she’s blubbering so hard that she barely makes it through the sentence.

Catra ends up comforting her, moving Adora so that she can hold her until the tears stop.

“Here’s a wild idea,” Catra begins. “Let’s maybe try to talk to each other first next time before one of us ends the world or marries the other again.”

Adora gives her a wet giggle. 

“Deal.”

They lay there for a while, Catra just stroking Adora’s hair and gazing into her eyes. This is surprisingly nice. She could do this forever. 

_Fuck_ . She could actually do this _forever_.

Cause they're mates. This isn’t some ruse to get what she wants. Adora is for real, for real her mate. _Ho-_

“-ly shit, we're _mates_.”

Adora’s voice is much more wistful and less appalled than Catra’s. “Yeah.”

Catra jumps on top of Adora, straddling her. If Adora was wearing a shirt, she’d be gripping the collar. It feels weird to grab her tits right now, so Catra settles for just hitting Adora in the chest. Thankfully, she doesn’t seem to mind.

“We’re, like, sworn to each other forever, Adora!” 

This feels insane. How did this happen? How did everyone _let_ this happen? 

“Everyone knows,” Catra continues.

Adora nods, which is not helping make this more real. Until a terrible reality hits. 

“Oh my Gods, _Shadow Weaver_ knows.” 

No wonder the old bat wanted to kill her. Catra had just thought the old monster was overreacting a bit at knowing she and Adora were openly being intimate. No, Shadow Weaver had seen how thoroughly Adora was lost in Catra and wanted to put a permanent end to it.

“Do _you_ know now?” Adora asks with a smirk.

Catra kisses it right off of her dumb, gloating face. 

She lies down fully on top of Adora to whisper, tears clouding her vision, “You’re in love with me? Even after...everything?” Cause that feels like it can’t be true somehow still.

Adora raises her hands to cup Catra’s face, smiling so brightly that she begins to glow gold, just a little.

“Kitten, I've never loved anything else. Only you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cried when catra thought adora was leaving, even though i had all the power to make that not happen and i was well aware of what the actual surprise was. it made no sense but i felt like sharing that with you.
> 
> chapter 11 preview: acting horde commander lonnie! rogelio! super pal trio! sea hawk says a reasonable thing! castaspella even comes through! 10k words and at least 2k are wasted on a fucking cat joke!


	11. Resting Murderer Face

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re the angriest person I’ve ever met. And I’ve had to live with _myself_ for 21 years so that’s saying something. I’m not surprised that we've each come the closest to destroying the world.”
> 
> Lonnie's a genius. Entrapta's savage and a lifesaver. The Commander speaks and a decision is reached.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: brief smut right away (starts with "for example" and ends with "holding up" if you want to skip). panic attack and some angst. typical discussions of violence.
> 
> hi!! this chapter is long as shit. i would apologize but it wouldn't be genuine and i respect you too much to lie to you. i encourage you to take a break, stretch, hydrate, moisturize, etc. i broke it up into three sections so maybe that helps?
> 
> also, the cat joke is 600 words, not 2k. i actually do apologize for the false advertising from the last preview.
> 
> anyway, hope y'all are thirsty for apologies and logistics and bots!

Adora and Catra are in love. It’s like a whole thing. Everyone knows (including _Catra_ now, her dumb mate likes to joke). Or if people didn’t know before, they sure as shit do now. 

If Catra isn’t napping or reading or with the Super Pal Trio or Bow, she’s draped all over Adora somewhere. If Adora doesn't have princess business, she's smashed against Catra's side. It's mutual so that's healthy, right? 

The good news is Glimmer’s much closer to forcing the Rebellion to make a decision about Catra’s freedom just so she doesn’t have to witness their disgusting love anymore.

Catra has to admit that Adora’s, like, really good at a lot of things. It’s important that Catra not dwell on some of those things too much cause then she ends up zoning out and everyone looks at her like she’s odd. Don’t think about Adora’s hands or her mouth or her shoulders…

Anyway, Adora’s kinda good at some things. She is terrible at planning. She thinks she’s brilliant but she’s not really detailed-oriented like Catra. The dummy had been putting all the labor and visioning for this whole debacle on herself. So Catra had to push her way in just to get Adora to admit that she needs help. 

The plan for Halfmoon is...not _sound_ . Adora pretty much thinks they can just throw some crops down and build some buildings and be done. Catra obviously understands that they need infrastructure, ideas for actually feeding people, contingency plans for possible growth, and so much more. Things are coming along slowly now. It’s hard to focus on this when they’re alone, which is the only real time for strategizing, because they keep getting _distracted_.

For example, they’re supposed to be thinking through possible entry points to defend against currently. Instead, Adora’s sprawled on her back across her desk, clothes half-off and face flushed. Catra is not complaining (and Adora would probably say that this was Catra’s idea in the first place.)

“Fuck, princess, you’re a mess for me,” Catra grits out. They've barely started and Adora is already soaked.

“Do you like that, kitten?”

Catra growls possessively, too busy trying to fuck her mate into her own desk to bother with words. It’s kinda hard to talk and think _and_ be three fingers deep in Adora at the same time she’s learned.

Now that Adora loves her or whatever, Catra’s pretty much done with holding back.

She reaches up to not-very-gently pinch Adora’s cute little light pink nipples. They’ve discovered, to their mutual surprise and satisfaction, that this is something that drives her wild. 

Adora lets out a whimper, tightening around Catra’s fingers.

“Kiss me,” she whispers. And _Gods_ , does she sound desperate. “Please? Kiss me while you fuck me?”

Catra considers it for a second. Since they both have a bit more experience, they’ve gotten more competitive about who can surprise the other or come up with the most exciting new idea. So Catra decides to try something out. 

She takes a chance and pushes Adora’s legs further apart. Then she ducks down and kisses her clit.

Adora’s hips jerk up to get more, a questioning moan coming from deep in her throat. 

“You didn't say where,” Catra teases.

Adora just begs, “More, please.” 

Catra feels a sense of both dread and pride. She didn’t really have an attack strategy for this but she’s adaptable. Just do what Adora usually does on her and try to ignore that she has barbs on her tongue.

But that doesn’t seem to matter cause the second she tries a couple of soft licks, Adora just starts babbling nonsense. Her legs, that were previously just loosely hanging off the side of the desk, wrap around Catra to pull her in closer. 

Somewhere amongst Adora’s moans and mumbled praise, she begins repeating, “I’m yours, I’m yours.”

Catra purrs in response and that’s all the stimulation that Adora needs to cum suddenly, biting into her own hand to muffle her scream.

While she recovers, Catra does something that she'll never admit she's dreamed about. She bites and sucks at the sensitive skin on Adora's inner thigh, leaving red marks behind. For good measure, she rubs her cheek down there too, getting her scent everywhere. It doesn't really matter, she knows. If someone gets far enough to even _see_ this part of her mate, it's already too late. They'll be dead by Catra's hand.

Later, after Catra quickly washes all of the cum out of her fur and Adora collapses in her chair with her pants still around her ankles, the Commander (soon to be Lord King) notices the mess that they’ve made of everything.

Holding up what was formerly their ideas of a treaty between the Alliance and Halfmoon, Catra very patiently asks Adora, “What is this?” 

The paper has been saturated through with some kind of...liquid.

“Uhh,” Adora stammers, still trying to catch her breath. “At best, we can hope it’s sweat. That’s probably rubbish now.”

Catra groans. Everytime it feels like they’re getting closer now, they manage to take a step back.

“New rule?” Adora adds. “No sex on the desk?”

They exchange disappointed looks. The desk was helpfully _sturdy_. 

“If anything, this just recommits me to planning,” Catra replies. “We need our own space. With more surfaces. Ones that aren’t made out of feathers and crystals and magic.” 

There had been some painful incidents in the past couple weeks that she wasn’t looking forward to recreating ever again. Nothing drastic had happened but they were in love and horny and both extremely excited to experiment beyond their perfectly fine bed.

Adora sighs. “We could try the wall or the floor again? Or I could just hold you up in the air the whole time?”

“Stop trying to distract me by saying awful sexy things like that. I’m gonna get some food and we can redraft the treaty.”

“I’ll come with you,” Adora offers, finally starting to pull up her trousers.

“Nope. You need to shower. You smell like someone just made you cum all over yourself.”

With a laugh, Adora picks Catra up in a bear hug, kissing her and nibbling at her ear. She’s still getting used to this side of Adora that so freely shows affection for no reason at all, even when she’s trying to be annoying. Catra’s learning not to fight it so her hands hang in the air for a moment, paused mid-way from pushing the blonde away, before lacing together behind her neck. 

Adora reluctantly lets her go to head towards the bathroom, whistling happily. 

Over her shoulder, she just tosses out, “I love you.”

“Of course you do, dummy.”

Catra’s about half-way to the kitchen, where she’s learned to steal food without having to interact with anyone in the dining halls, when she hears voices whispering nearby. Sparkles and Bow up ahead somewhere. She continues on, prepared to ignore them, until she hears her own name. 

Catra’s up in the vents before any of the guards can spot her.

It doesn’t take long to find the Queen and her royal archer (how is that even a recognized _title_?!) in the least formal dining hall, hovering near the door and trying to talk quietly. Glimmer’s never talked quietly in her whole life so Catra doesn’t even have to strain or come too close.

“- just think we should hear her out,” Bow says.

“I don’t get it. Do you _want_ to lose Adora?” Glimmer hisses.

“She's so happy,” he returns. “Remember when we thought she was depressed this whole year? I guess, I’ve just realized she was really missing the idea of spending post-war life with the woman she loves.” 

Even though no one can see her, Catra pretends to silently retch. Anything to distract from the butterflies in her stomach. 

Glimmer groans. “Ugh, they’ve gotten worse, right? It feels like it’s been worse. They’re, like, all _hypnotized_ with each other again, like during the war. The other day, Catra told Adora to sit and she did immediately. Like a pet or something!”

Catra recalls that. It was kinda funny actually. She had said it without thinking and Adora immediately obeyed. Sometimes they tap into that cadet side of Adora. Catra’s still dying to find out how far she can push that.

“And don’t even get me _started_ on what I accidentally walked in on the other day! Adora was all tied up on her knees while Catra was making her watch her mast-”

“I don’t need the details!” Bow interrupts.

Catra nearly screams ‘I knew it!’ before she remembers that she can’t give her position away. 

She’d been having some harmless, private fun with her mate in their bedroom when she swore she heard a teleport. But honestly she was so close to finishing and Adora was too riveted to notice so she didn’t stop or look away. There was an immediate second teleport and Catra just continued torturing Adora like nothing happened. 

She’s not quite sure how to feel about the confirmation that Glimmer has intimate knowledge of what her vagina looks like now. Then she almost growls when she realizes that that sparkly asshole has seen Adora fully naked.

Bow continues on, “They trust and listen to each other. It’s normal.”

“There’s nothing normal about this relationship!” 

Yeah, she must have definitely seen _everything_.

Bow sighs. “I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to truly know what goes on in a relationship except the two people involved. We should butt out.”

“I _know_ Catra’s up to something, Bow!” 

Catra’s heart practically stops. She and Adora aren’t nearly far enough along in their plan. If anyone wises up and catches them now, it’ll all be ruined. With no backup plan, they’re fucked. Catra’s on her way to Beast Island and Adora’s probably getting tried for treason.

“Honestly, I think that’s just her face. She kinda has resting murderer face.” 

She hears feet moving and angles to get a better view through the vent grate. Bow is tenderly holding Glimmer’s hands, his face kind but stern. 

“We have to give her a chance, Glimmer. If not for her sake, think of Adora or Entrapta or Scorpia. Heck, even Mermista and Perfuma would be crushed if you kept trying to punish Catra without letting her tell her side.”

“And you?” Glimmer asks, arching her eyebrow. “You can’t fool me. I know you’re all buddy-buddy now. First Adora tries to replace me and now you!”

Bow winces and drops her hands. “We’ve talked about this. It’s okay for us all to have different friends. No one is trying to replace anyone or forget about this. We still all hang out as much as we did before-” he pauses. “Well, not as much as _before_ but way more than we have in the last year.”

“ _Catra’s_ always there,” she spits out the name like it’s disgusting. 

“And you two almost get along when you’re not making it impossible for her.” 

That was generous. They mostly just throw low-level barbs with saccharine sweet smiles. It fools Adora well enough.

Before Glimmer can reply, Bow holds up his hand to stop her.

“Listen, we’re all enjoying _not_ fighting, right? If nothing else, you have to give Catra a chance because...taking time to rebuild and forgive is the only way to guarantee continued peace. She saved your life. She’s really trying, Glimmer. If we want a future that’s not full of bloodshed, _we_ have to do what’s just and fair right now.”

Glimmer just huffs in annoyance.

“At some point, you have to move past the ange-”

“The _anger_ is all I have, Bow! If I let this go, what am I supposed to do?”

“Honor Angella?” he suggests quietly. “Enjoy your time with Micah? Who’s back, because the universe loves a cruel joke, thanks to Catra.”

He turns and leaves without waiting for a response. Catra watches Glimmer for a few moments longer, the Queen’s shoulders dropping before she balls up her fists and angrily teleports out of the room. Catra didn’t think it was possible to teleport in a rage but the aura surrounding it seems more akin to a white-hot light than usual and it’s more abrupt. She can’t even chalk it up to being semi-concussed this time.

Catra uses the opportunity to climb down. Of course, Bow is waiting in the doorway.

“Thought I heard something up there,” he says with a smile. “I’ve been trying to track the frequency of Entrapta’s spy bots.”

It’s frightening that they’ve all just accepted that this is their reality now.

“From what I can tell, they’re largely erratic,” she replies. “Much like their creator.”

“Did you hear all that?”

Catra nods. “She’s not wrong. To be mad.”

“No. But it’s eating her up. I think it’s making her into someone she doesn’t want to be. And she doesn’t really seem to see any way out of it.”

“Changing is scary,” Catra mumbles, eyes going to the floor. “Or so I’ve heard,” she adds quickly. “Not like I would know.”

“Oh, of course not,” Bow replies, with a tease in his voice. “Speaking of changing, what happened with you and Adora?”

Catra looks up quickly. She never told anyone they kissed. She hoped everyone would just forget or disappear off the face of Etheria.

“Nothing. What did you hear?” Eyes narrowed, her body goes taut, waiting to pounce.

“Nothing,” Bow repeats. He’s smiling like a godsdamn giddy fool. “You’ve just been acting really differently around each other.”

“Mind your own business,” she tells him swiftly.

He doesn’t stop smiling.

“...different _how_?”

“Oh,” he says, super fake and casual. “Just like two people who kissed and realized they were in love with each other.”

Catra never makes it to the kitchen for that snack cause she spends a good part of the evening chasing him and trying to get him to admit everything he knows. She could have caught him at any moment, of course, but they were having fun and anyway that's not even the point.

By the time they're done, Catra's worked up an appetite. She can't find Adora anywhere and Bow's heading to the dining hall so Catra just joins him. It's only kinda super awkward at first, but Glimmer decides to leave immediately and everyone else finally relaxes.

They’re actually all pretty comfortable with Catra’s presence at the meal, joking and including her in conversations about random princess shit, when Adora rushes in.

“Oh my Gods, there you are!” Adora throws herself on Catra, like she’s been declared missing in battle or something.

“It was like an hour,” she mutters, shoving roasted meat into her mouth.

“You said you’d come back. We were in the middle of something. I looked for you everywhere!”

This is an overreaction. Catra knows that. Adora probably knows that and will feel silly later. But she’s upset now and Catra did honestly ditch her completely so she has to apologize or something annoying. Unfortunately, everyone’s eyes are on the two of them, even as they try to pretend they’re not watching. 

Catra angles her head away from the nosy onlookers to quietly say, “You’re right. I’m sorry.” For good measure, she gives Adora a hasty peck on the lips.

The princesses all coo, even Mermista who seems to do it just to fuck with Catra. Frosta just narrows her eyes.

“Oh, stick a fucking dumpling in it,” Catra snarls at them.

But Adora happily plops herself down into Catra's lap and starts eating off of her plate, like dinner with the princesses is a normal thing they do all the time.

* * *

A couple more days pass with continued planning. Catra and Adora accidentally fall into one of their first fights as a couple. Adora wants to build Halfmoon homes out of what sounds like mud and sticks, which her mate thinks sounds like a recipe for disaster. Probably missing home but unwilling to admit it, Catra has drawn the buildings up to look like the Fright Zone, Jr. Adora deems this as potentially traumatic for so many people. 

They spend hours debating this because Adora doesn’t know how to let a thought go and Catra refuses to compromise when pushed. They eat lunch separately, probably to Glimmer’s fucking _delight_ , and after they enter a second round of fighting, Catra storms out for a rage nap.

She intends to sleep in the grass in the sun but that plan is blown up when she finds Entrapta and Scorpia in her favorite section of the garden.

“Catra! We found you!” Entrapa yells as she walks up, as if Catra wasn't the one who stumbled on her and not the other way around. 

The princess is typing something into her tracker pad in a frenzy. She seems to be observing Scorpia…?

It’s not exactly clear what Scorpia’s doing honestly. There are more interesting things happening. There’s a _thing_ flying low in the air. It looks like some kind of bot, black and sleek, and it’s a little bigger than a dinner plate. It moves swiftly but gracefully, just a little jerky, like the Horde bots.

Catra’s tail twitches just looking at it. She’s trying to fight the instinct but she begins to crouch down against her will, preparing to pounce.

“Fascinating,” Entrapta whispers next to her. “Subject Catra appears to be attempting to play with SEP immediately on-sight.”

“Attack!” Catra grits. “I’m not going to play with it. I’m not a pet. I’m a Commander, godsdamnit.” 

The flying thing changes directions and Catra makes a chattering sound that she instantly regrets. Scorpia swings at it and it ducks, reversing direction again and moving back towards Entrapta and Catra. She’s in the air after it before she can hear what Scorpia’s saying.

“-oes kinda look like when she’s catching bugs,” the princess mumbles.

Catra’s first swipe misses and she lands a little ungracefully on the ground. Her tail twitches again and she makes another attempt. Then another. By the fourth or fifth time, Catra decides that height is the issue. As she launches herself at Scorpia, she sees the woman’s eyes go wide in fear before Catra’s feet attach to her carapace for a brief second and she throws herself into the air again. This time she overshoots but gets a strike in on the way down.

Entrapta must press a button on her tracker pad because the object lowers to the ground where Catra’s immediately on it. She unsheaths her claws.

“Catra, stop!” Entrapta yells. It’s the clearest command she’s ever given so the Commander freezes. “This is SEP. A soaring Emily projectile. Please don’t eat it.”

“I wasn’t going to _eat it_ ,” she responds, indignant. “What even is it?”

“A kitty distraction vehicle?” Scorpia offers. 

Catra hops off of it and stands, trying to retain some of her dignity.

“My latest invention,” Entrapta explains. “It has the same basic operating system as Emily but in a _tiny size_ .” Her eyes look positively frenzied for a moment. “I thought flying capabilities would be useful but I realized that SEP is _learning_. It’s figuring out how to avoid capture from threats and masturing how to counteract their movements.”

“Good thing you came out here, Wildcat!” Scorpia says, looping an arm around Catra’s shoulders. If she comes back smelling like Scorpia after all the fighting this morning, Adora is going to absolutely lose it. Catra smiles wickedly, leaning further into the touch. “I don’t think I was much competition for it.”

Catra turns to Entrapta. “What’s this thing’s purpose?”

The princess glances at her tracker pad. “Unknown currently.” 

Catra would like to know _who_ it’s unknown to cause she definitely can tell that the princess knows and is lying. She didn’t think Entrapta was capable of deceit. She’s pretty proud honestly. Catra glances over to Scorpia who just shrugs, completely lost.

This isn’t what she came out here for, so Catra refocuses on her mission.

“You know, Scorp’, I realized earlier that we’ve never really chatted about your plans for the Fright Zone,” Catra says casually. “Like, besides peace and happiness and whatever. You gonna make more homes?”

“Oh, gosh, Catra. I’m so glad you’re taking more of an interest! Since, you know, it might end up being your home again too soon.” 

Scorpia engulfs them both in her arms and directs them towards a nearby bench. Entrapta is too busy on her pad to notice or care as Scorpia maneuvers them all into a seat. Catra immediately jumps up and lies on the grass to close her eyes. Multi-tasking.

“I’ll need to get rid of a lot of the training rooms, maybe convert them to classrooms for all the lessons,” Scorpia continues. “A lot of the industrial buildings will have to come down cause we’re not pumping out war machines anymore, no siree. And yeah, we can use the space to create more homes. Entrapta offered to come up with some designs to make it look less doom and gloom, you know? Perfuma wants to help grow more greenery too.”

Perfuma! Yes. Halfmoon’s agriculture problem solved. Catra can’t wait to rub that in Adora’s face.

“Cool cool,” Catra replies, lazily. “‘Trapta, mind if I see some of those designs? I’ve still got a pretty good idea of what the foundry’s capable of.”

“We’re exploring using an alloy that I discovered in a First Ones ruin so that won’t be necessary,” the purple-haired princess replies. “It’ll be like a bigger, better version of the Sea Gate!”

“Sounds awesome,” Catra drawls. “Could I check it out?”

“I don’t see why not!” Scorpia exclaims, always so trusting.

“Unfortunately, we’re not ready for a reveal yet,” Entrapta says, now clearly just hiding behind the tracker pad.

Never, not once, has Entrapta not been absolutely thrilled to share unnecessary information with Catra. There’s a distinct smell of bullshit around this garden suddenly.

Before she can push further, two things happen: the nearby guard who was completely ignoring them runs off in a flash and Catra’s ears pick up the distinct sound of a skiff approaching the castle.

Bright Moon doesn’t have skiffs. She looks to Entrapta for... _anything_! A flash of recognition, confusion, any reaction since she’d know the castle’s tech best. But of course Entrapta’s stupid inferior ears haven’t detected anything and she’s still hiding behind her screen.

“Skiff,” is all the Commander says before she’s pulling the other two to their feet and rushing inside.

The guards are all alert, rushing around. She hears the voice of Juliet, the General, barking out orders and trying to get the Queen to safety. She of course next hears Glimmer’s voice, yelling about how she won’t hide from scum.

So, fuck. Then the Horde _is_ here?

Catra knows she’ll be locked away somewhere “safe” (out of trouble) if anyone sees her, so she slinks along the walls, trying to stay as low and out of sight as possible. The place is called Bright Moon for Gods’ sake so this is a fool’s errand. She tries to will her tail to stop lashing, afraid the thumping sound might give her away, as she creeps closer to the palace’s front entrance.

A few moments later, Lonnie enters, flanked by Rogelio and Octavia, of all people. She guesses Lonnie just wanted to intimidate the princesses and brought the two biggest lugs that she could find. All three are surrounded by palace guards, so tense that they look absolutely ridiculous in their dumb giant robes, next to Lonnie who appears to just be out for a boring stroll.

Ever dramatic, Lonnie’s wearing a modified Horde Commander uniform, tunic and all. She’s even got on a short dark red cape that stops just before her waist. Catra’s so jealous that she can’t even deal with it. Hordak’s stupid long cape never worked with her tail and she didn’t think to just _cut it_. 

Honestly, Lonnie’s a genius. She deserves the job.

Catra can hear Glimmer screech some more and then the Horde convoy is escorted into the throne room. The closed doors pose a bit of a problem. When Catra turns to look for another snooping place, she nearly runs directly into Scorpia and Entrapa, who have finally caught up.

Using the Horde’s visual signals, Catra attempts to give the rest of the Super Pal Trio an order. Scorpia launches into action, while Entrapta just tilts her head and stares.

“What are you doing with your hands?” she asks loudly. Having run a few feet away, Scorpia returns to lift the princess and carry her out, Catra shushing her the whole way.

Once they’re safely out of sight around the corner, Scorpia lowers the other girl. 

“I was telling you,” Catra grits out, “the number of guards and how we needed to fall back.”

“Oh,” Entrapta says flatly. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“Because we’re trying to be quiet!” she whisper-shouts in response. “The Commander and two Force Captains just got led into the throne room. We need to figure out what’s going on.”

Entrapta laughs, which does nothing to help Catra’s spiking panic. “That’s easy enough. The throne room is open air in the back. We’ll fly SEP around and she’ll open a feed to us.”

If Catra weren’t so grateful for that, she’d wring Entrapta’s neck for lying about her creepy flying camera bot. She directs the princess to do this and within a couple minutes, Entrapta’s tracker pad begins a video of the throne room. Yet another reason why Catra and Adora need to get out of this castle.

Glimmer, unsurprisingly, is almost apoplectic, on her throne watching the three Horde soldiers. Lonnie is commanding the fuck out that room, Catra thinks wistfully.

“-een months now, Your Majesty,” Lonnie says, tone just a tick above condescending. “It’s ridiculous that Bright Moon hasn’t been able to settle this. You removed the ruler of a sovereign state with no authority. We are within our rights to launch an offensive.”

“Your tyrant came here willingly,” Glimmer returns.

“Under threat of a battalion of Bright Moon Guards,” Lonnie replies, shaking her head in disappointment. 

Rogelio grunts something and crosses his arms. They’re _chastising_ the Child Queen. Catra raised them so well. 

“The Horde formally requests that you release our Commander and return her immediately.”

“She’s not technically under arrest so I don’t have to do that. She’s a...house guest.”

“So she can leave freely?” Lonnie shoots back immediately.

Glimmer just narrows her eyes.

“I’ll take that as a no then. This ends now. You’ve kidnapped the leader of a kingdom-”

“She’s a war criminal,” Glimmer interrupts. “She’s subject to a trial.”

Lonnie just continues, “You’ve wasted all of our time. You’ve endangered the peace that our Commander extended to yo-”

“ _Extended_ to us? Why are we acting like Catra of all people is some benevolent leader?!”

“Better than a spoiled, petty brat,” Lonnie says, so evenly that Glimmer seems to not know how to respond to the direct attack. “This was your strategy?” She shakes her head, like she’s dealing with a misbehaved junior cadet. 

“You could have recommissioned the Horde as Etheria’s military. You could have assigned us all to rebuilding missions. You could have _worked_ with us if you bothered trying to create an alliance instead of just throwing around hints of a treaty, like we’re dogs who need your table scraps. Instead, you just stole our grumpy old cat. Now, make a decision or give it back.”

Well, Catra’s first command will be reassigning Lonnie to cleaning latrines for this disrespect. But she appreciates the fucking nerve on the girl.

Glimmer takes a deep breath. She lifts her nose in the air a little, like she’s above all this. 

“We don’t respond to ultimatums.”

“No, you just give them.” Lonnie and the Queen share a staredown. “If that’s all you have to say, I’d like to see the Commander now and then we’ll leave. We’ll wait a fortnight for your answer.”

In the hall, heavy, frantic footsteps come thundering in their direction from the opposite wing of the castle.

In the throne room, Lonnie turns and begins to walk away without another word. Rogelio and Octavia follow.

Catra can already hear what’s about to happen. The gasoline that these embers don't need right now. She grabs Scorpia’s pincer and hauls them both into the hallway, dragging her towards the throne room. 

The door flies open, and mercifully, Lonnie turns and spots Catra before an outraged Adora can reach her. A couple of guards block the blonde's path. Thank the Gods. Catra can just imagine the screaming match that would happen right now between Glimmer and She-Ra if Adora threw herself into the mix, the hot-tempered Queen being driven to call Lonnie’s bluff.

“Commander,” Catra greets, saluting the soldiers.

“That’s my line,” Lonnie drawls. “You’re still alive. Hell, how is it that you look even healthier in this nightmare place?”

“I’m fueled by spite,” she smiles. “I’m not sure what the appropriate room is for hosting dignitaries. Scorpio, what do you think?”

“Hey, guys!” she yells, cheerfully. “Boy, have I missed you all.” 

Octavia hisses in response while Rogelio grunts neutrally. 

Lonnie salutes Scorpia with a smile. “Force Captain,” she says. “A quiet space would be nice. I wouldn’t mind hearing about your re-entry ideas. A couple of folks have floated some suggestions of their own.”

Scorpia lights up, babbling away with some of her thoughts on the Fright Zone. Catra steers them in the opposite direction of Adora before Scorpia leads them all into what appears to be another study. As soon as the door is closed, Lonnie’s eyes start twinkling with excitement. She nods almost imperceptibly at Scorpia.

“Scorpia, Rogelio, Octavia, can you watch the door? I’m not convinced they won’t try to storm the place,” Catra says. 

Wordlessly, they all follow the Commander’s order, exiting quietly and closing the door.

“We can speak freely,” she tells Lonnie. Except that Entrapta’s recording probably but it doesn’t seem like a high enough security risk to warn them about. “What are you doing here? I told you not to try to rescue me.”

“No, you told me not to sacrifice myself or something dumb,” Lonnie replies. “The princesses are all pretty soft. This isn’t exactly a high-risk situation. We tried writing to the Queen, all formal and everything to ask for release and to maybe, I don’t know, actually _include_ us in the destruction of our home. When we didn’t get an answer, I figured it was time to stop sitting around with our thumbs up our asses.”

There’s a knock on the door.

Catra groans, calling out, “I’m fine, Adora. Just hang out.” 

She waits a few moments and when there isn’t another knock, she turns back to Lonnie.

Of course, the largest shit-eating grin greets her. “The wife likes to keep you close?”

“ _Mate_. I prefer ‘mate’. It feels more...low pressure. And yeah, she’s, like, obsessed with me or whatever. It’s really embarrassing for her.”

Lonnie just chuckles.

Catra’s not really sure how much is smart to tell Lonnie. She can’t overplay her hand with Halfmoon. She also can’t abandon someone who’s been like family her whole life without a word.

“Listen. I’m serious this time. You don't have to look out for me, especially if it puts anyone in danger. Including _you_. There’s no way I’m Commander after this. You have to plan for that.”

“Cat, I’ve got plans on plans,” Lonnie waves away dismissively. “You’re not coming back. I got it. _Best_ case scenario, you and Adora go live far far away from all this mess. I’ll fight for you, but I’m not gonna hold you back.”

Catra nearly hugs her. 

Instead, she says, “You’ll have to leave the cape here. I’ll need it for my trial.”

“I knew you'd be so jealous! Tell you what, I’ll give you the cape if you tell me what’s up with you and Adora. Like, the real tea.”

“Cape’s overrated,” she mumbles.

Lonnie snorts. “I just want you to be happy, you ass. Well, I want Adora to be happy. You, I could care less about.”

“What did you have in the bet?”

“I said a year.”

Catra smirks. “At least I get the pleasure of knowing I cost you money.”

“Well done, Commander!” Lonnie says, punching Catra in the shoulder. “You kissed the girl you've been pining after. It only took you 12 years and a _marriage_.”

Catra rolls her eyes. Maybe she blushes a bit but Lonnie’s graceful enough not to mention it.

“Folks are starting to get excited about the possibility of leaving the Fright Zone and having normal lives. Turns out people don’t enjoy living in the place that almost killed them, especially once they realize they have a choice.” She rolls her eyes, like everyone’s being ridiculous. “I mentioned that in my letter – they want to keep you, then they have to actually take care of the Fright Zone and everyone in it.”

“And what if they don’t play ball?”

“Let’s hope their brains aren’t so full of glitter that they test me. I gave the Queen a deadline. We’ll see what happens when she responds. Either way, I’d like to end this limbo.”

“You and me both,” Catra says, but her heart’s not entirely in it.

Lonnie's eyes go soft. “Whatever happens, I got you, Cat. I know you’ll be able to roll with it. I’ll find some secure way to communicate if we need you to do anything. But hang out and relax with your girl til then.”

Catra’s not sure what comes over her but she pulls Lonnie into a tight hug.

The acting Commander laughs. “Bitch, we’ll see each other again. Don’t act like this is the end of the world or some shit.” 

But she returns the hug. This is something they’ve never been allowed before and they both seem to need it in this moment.

“Thank you,” Catra whispers.

Lonnie pulls back. “Me? You’re the one taking the L for all of us. I gotta get out of here. All the lights and fresh air are making me sick.”

When they reach the door, Catra says a genuine goodbye and word of thanks to Rogelio and Octavia. She’d hug them too but she feels a little silly about it (and probably should finally get around to apologizing for taking Octavia’s eye out…). So she just awkwardly punches them both in the shoulder before they all leave.

As soon as they’re alone, Scorpia turns to her and whispers, agitated, “We’ve got an issue, boss.” 

Before Catra can respond, she’s being pulled towards and then into the war room.

Inside, it’s a fucking sight – the whole Rebellion seems to have frantically assembled and is clearly on edge. Guess a visit from your mortal enemies will do that.

The oddest part, though, is Adora. Hair falling out of her ponytail, eyes wild, face bright red, stacks of papers flying everywhere, ranting a mile a minute. Everyone looks overwhelmed and concerned for her well-being. Except Glimmer who seems like she might try to take a punch at She-Ra.

“-the best idea for everyone,” Adora is saying. “Think of it as rehabilitation for Catra. It’ll give the Rebellion somewhere to house refugees. Entrapta – that’s a big concern that we have to fix, right?” 

Entrapta, sitting on Emily, does not acknowledge that she’s being spoken to and continues focusing on her tracker pad. 

“What. The hell. Are you saying?!” Glimmer shrieks.

“Halfmoon!” Adora yells back.

Oh, no. No no no. Foolish, simple Adora. That’s no way to announce that you’re splintering from a kingdom.

Catra rushes over to Adora, trying to save her before she makes a bigger mess of this all.

“You!” Glimmer yells as soon as she sees her. “You sent your _goons_? And you broke Adora!”

“I’m not broken!” the idiot grumbles. “Just let me find the right–” 

She begins shifting more papers around, which Catra now realizes are all of their half-finished plans. This is embarrassing. This should not be a reflection of Catra's skills as a leader.

She sidles up a little closer to Adora, who’s still furiously digging through documents. “This isn’t what we talked about,” she whispers.

“Improvising!” Adora whispers through gritted teeth. “Do you know where-”

“What is even happening here?” Mermista grumbles.

Catra sighs. “I don’t know how much Adora shared already, but what she’s trying to present is a proposal for Halfmoon, a revitalization of the fallen kingdom. Rebuilt to create a homeland for all of the Etherians who were displaced by the war.”

“Run by _who_? You two?!?!” Glimmer strikes again.

“ _Yes_ , as the last living Magicat and her mate, we have a legitimate claim to the throne,” Catra replies.

“Excellent point. This sounds like a very needed and important space,” Perfuma responds with a strained smile. Her eyes haven’t left Adora’s crazed face. “Perhaps we should give you some time for a...more _refined_ plan.”

“Nope!” Adora declines. “I have it here...somewhere.”

“Quit it with the fucking paperwork,” Catra whispers. She doesn’t dare touch Adora, though, cause with all the arms lashing around, she’s liable to catch an elbow for her troubles.

“Nap time?” Scorpia asks Catra, already standing to collect Adora.

“Oh,” Entrapta finally seems to notice what’s happening around her. “Were you looking for your blueprint drafts? I have those.”

Adora pauses, papers falling to the floor. “What?”

“I found them,” Entrapta continues. “They were crudely drawn and poorly thought out so I decided to help.”

Absolutely savage. But wait – 

“You _found_ them?” Catra tries to clarify. “In our room? Hidden in a drawer? Under a false bottom?”

“Yes, that’s what I said.” 

Refusing to be bogged down by reality or anyone’s right to privacy, the princess moves forward. She hits a few buttons on her tracker pad and the war room table lights up with a hologram.

It’s looks fucking marvelous. Halfmoon, signified with the emblem of a panther’s head, lays before them fully realized. There’s a castle, plenty of homes, a marketplace, and space for lots of crops and livestock.

Everyone stares at it in shock. The Commander's most excited about getting her very own emblem. And forcing Adora to retire that ugly old red jacket and wear it.

Entrapta explains, “I built a more efficient, safer Halfmoon. I incorporated elements of design that support a number of non-humanoid species. Using the nearby river and the moons as energy sources, along with Perfuma’s support for agriculture, it has the potential to be fully sustainable one day, once you have a substantial amount of settlers. It's the kingdom of the future!” 

Glimmer attempts to say something but can’t quite move her mouth to form words. Bow moves closer to examine the hologram.

“I just need Catra's help to build defenses, trade routes, and add her and Adora’s thumbprint. Thank you, by the way, Catra, for accidentally helping me come up with ideas about building materials.”

The only thing Catra can think to add is, “That just happened. You...built this since then?”

“Oh, no. That would be impossible,” she says it like _Catra’s_ the one being ridiculous. “I finished this a few days ago. I just had to update the design to reflect your unintentional selection.”

“This,” Adora whispers in awe, “is amazing. Entrapta, thank you.”

She shrugs in response. “I appreciate that someone has listened to one of my concerns.” 

That definitely feels pointed and passive-aggressive.

Spinnerella clears her throat. “I appreciate you three for working on this. If I may summarize, your proposal is that Catra will be freed on the grounds that she supports Adora, and Entrapta now, in rebuilding a kingdom that will house anyone in need of a home? I suppose there are more logistics to consider, but I think that’s an inspired idea.”

Adora lights up at the praise, of course.

“Wildcat, this is brilliant!” Scorpia agrees. “I’ll be sad not to have you at the Scorpion Kingdom but I’m glad there’ll be a place for any Horde folks who would like to leave.”

Shit.

Glimmer wakes up out of her stupor at that. “You’ll be taking Horde soldiers? So you can build another army?!”

“We don’t need an army,” Adora rushes out quickly. “No armies. We’ll all be civilians.”

“And we’re just supposed to trust you on that?” the Queen questions.

“You can come by all the time and check?” the blonde offers unsurely.

“No, you’ll take our word,” Catra argues. “We’re not opening ourselves up for any extra scrutiny that you don’t give the other kingdoms.”

“This is a bit different,” Netossa tells her. “Maybe just a few months of check-ins. Consider it a probationary period.”

“That seems fair,” Bow agrees.

“Two months,” Catra replies.

Frosta jumps in to add, “Twelve months.”

“Four,” Catra shoots back.

“Fine by me,” Mermista shrugs. “We'll send Glimmer. I bet she'd love it.”

Glimmer clearly can't believe her fucking ears. “Hold on a second! This isn't happening!”

“If I may,” Sea Hawk begins, using his most formal voice, “it seems our comrades are offering restitution. Was that not the very same principle that we were hoping to have our wayward traducer display?”

“Ugh,” Mermista groans. “Unfortunately, he’s right. Catra wants to do exactly what we _wanted_ her to do – grow the fuck up and actually help fix this shitstorm. So why should we stop her?”

There’s a lot of agreement around the table. Glimmer looks unimpressed.

Catra decides on what she hopes is a winning tactic. 

“Sparkles. Do you really want me spending any more time around here? Getting in your way? Learning everything about Bright Moon? Just being an all-around pain in your ass without truly even trying?” 

She begins tapping her claws on the table in an intentionally obnoxious way. Glimmer twitches, just a little.

“But who knows?” Catra continues. “Maybe Halfmoon will be so much work that it keeps me out of trouble. At the very least, it keeps me out of the Fright Zone and removes my access to any of the resources there.”

Glimmer narrows her eyes but doesn’t argue. She turns to Bow and begins a silent conversation, a series of indecipherable frowns, raised eyebrows, shrugs, and cheek biting. After several moments of this, and growing irritation from all convened, the Queen turns back to Catra and Adora with a sigh.

“I propose a compromise,” Glimmer announces. “We will drop the question about immunity, if Catra agrees to a trial. It will be short – we’ve heard from everyone else. We just need to hear about your actions in your own words. And then we’ll decide on your fate.”

“So Halfmoon could possibly still be on the table?” Adora asks.

Glimmer grimaces. “There doesn’t seem to be any objections from anyone.”

Is this a trick? Glimmer’s probably not _that_ smart.

“And the final ruling will be made by a vote of the entire Alliance?” Catra tries.

“Except Adora,” Netossa answers. “It’s even more of a conflict of interest now.”

No one seems to object to that either. So the only way forward is for Catra to once again willingly give up her own freedom and hope that a bunch of people she tried to kill will show her mercy. There are other ways, sure, but most involve lasers and tanks and lots and lots of blood.

“Fine.”

Everyone goes silent as soon as Catra speaks. Adora immediately begins chewing her lip and pulling the remainder of her hair out of her ponytail. The room has a general air of disbelief.

“Just like that?” Frosta asks.

“Sure, why not?” Catra returns. “This is the path that keeps the most people safe, right? That’s all that matters.”

Catra would be lying if she said she knew everyone under her command. But the ones who stayed, who follow orders blindly because they trust in her – she’s come to understand that she has a responsibility to them. What Lonnie said was true; as a leader, it’s her obligation to decide what’s an acceptable loss. The only thing all those Horde kids can afford to lose is Catra herself.

Adora grabs her hand, completely despondent. Catra gives her two squeezes. The blonde responds with a curt nod and seems to resign herself to following her mate’s lead.

They set the trial for the next day since Glimmer and Catra both seem reluctant to continue to draw this out. The Commander insists on drafting a message to the Horde to inform them of her decision; she manages to toe a fine line of being open to accountability while refusing to state anywhere that Bright Moon has any true grounds for punishing her. Stubborn to the very end, she figures.

That evening, Scorpia and Entrapta are eager to keep her mind off the next day. It takes a lot of convincing to get Adora out of her funk and onboard, but once Sea Hawk, Bow, Mermista, and Perfuma decide to join them, their quiet plans escalate into a full-on bash in the gardens. Spinnerella even gets Netossa to join. 

They all end up drinking, then playing a vicious game of Ice Ball, once Frosta is guilted into joining. She grumbles about not being allowed to have alcohol. Catra is caught trying to slip her some more than once and chastised. 

Glimmer teleports down a few times to complain about the impropriety of fraternizing with their almost-prisoner but thankfully retires to bed early.

Alone in their room later, tipsy and exhausted, Catra and Adora just hold each other.

“Are you okay?” Catra whispers.

Adora scoffs. “Me? I’m not the one who’s rolling the dice on Glimmer, of all people.”

“Should I have talked to you before agreeing?” Even quieter, she admits, “I’m still figuring out this couple shit. I think I’m probably supposed to get your input on life-or-death decisions.”

Adora shrugs. “I owed you one. Sorry again for bringing you into all of this.”

“No, you were right. You gave us the chance to make our own terms, more or less. If you hadn’t intervened, who knows what could have happened. I’m not sure you’re aware of this, but I’m kind’ve impulsive.” 

Adora laughs at that. Catra nuzzles into her neck. 

“I forgive you. For everything. All of the- _Everything_.”

“You don’t have to,” Adora whispers. “After the trial, you’ll have lots of time to give me hell for all the things I did. We’ll have the rest of our lives together, right?”

Shadow Weaver wanted her in a grave. Glimmer wants her in a prison. With all that Catra’s been through, it feels foolish to hope for more than that.

She has to be strong for Adora right now though. 

“Right.” She burrows deeper into Adora’s arms. “When did you know?”

“Hmm?”

“That you loved me,” she explains, ducking her head to hide her face.

“Oh,” Adora sounds surprised but she moves to hold Catra tighter. “Always, I guess. I didn’t know what it meant, not really. When we were kids, I thought I had invented feeling this way. Like no one had ever felt for anybody what I felt for you. Shad-... _she_ used to make me think that that’s why she hurt you. So for a long time, I tried to hide it and bury it as much as I could.”

Catra wasn’t as naive as Adora growing up. She often stole contraband that the older cadets’ kept hidden and read all about love and sex, though the kind with a guy, which... _gross_. Maybe if she’d bothered sharing, they could have figured this out together a lot sooner.

They lay in silence for a bit longer. Catra half-expects Adora to ask her the same question but she doesn’t, letting Catra lead.

“And Halfmoon?”

They’d talked about the ‘how’ so often but never really about the _‘why’_.

She can feel Adora shrug. “This is kinda embarrassing.”

Catra shifts so she can get a good look at her face, already starting to blush slightly.

“Because I couldn’t be _with_ you, I tried learning more about you,” Adora admits. Cutely. She’s so fucking cute that Catra almost hates it.

“You don’t just have an encyclopedic knowledge of all ancient Etherian species?” Catra asks dryly.

“At first I thought maybe it could help us connect! And then maybe Perfuma pointed out that I was just using it to cope with missing you. Once I let myself feel that, and Glimmer was talking nonstop about arresting you, plans started to come together pretty quickly. I had to keep you safe. I had to make things right with us. What’s the point of saving Etheria if I can’t be with you?”

Catra spent their time apart wallowing and brooding and building a war machine. When that didn’t work, she tried to learn to live without Adora. Knowing that Adora was only thinking of being with her nearly brings tears to her eyes and she kisses her mate until she’s breathless to hide that away.

She waits until Adora’s sleeping soundly, snoring into the crook of her neck. 

“I knew I loved you the second I saw you,” Catra whispers. “You were the first person who ever smiled at me. Looked at me like I mattered.” She could go on and on but can’t get more words out past the lump in her throat.

One day maybe she’ll tell Adora. It feels unfair to say it if this is their last night together.

* * *

The next morning, she’s awoken by guards. Drinking at her last-minute goodbye party was a horrible mistake. Halfway to the throne room, she’s already dry heaved twice. 

What a perfect day for an execution.

The throne room has apparently decided to pretend to be a tribunal today. Additional seats have been set up to flank the base of the stairs to the throne, making space for the rest of other princesses. There’s a chair facing them, directly in the center of the room a few feet away, that’s clearly for Catra. The gallery consists of a handful of benches facing Catra’s profile, on opposite sides.

She’s led to her chair as Glimmer teleports the rest of the Rebellion in, minus the few who, like Entrapta, just seem to wander on their own. Adora, Catra notices, seems to be brought in by Glimmer, kicking and screaming. Glimmer drops her not-too-softly onto the bench with a thud, before blinking out again. Adora immediately throws the least soothing attempt at a calming smile that Catra’s ever seen. She even waves, like Catra might not recognize her. They may still be drunk from last night. 

When everyone has all assembled, Glimmer teleports herself to her throne and takes a very haughty seat. Catra nearly boos out loud. Sometimes she feels like Glimmer shares all of her bad traits and none of her sense of humor. She still doesn’t understand how this little jerk gets to hold Catra’s whole life in her tiny, glittery hands.

The usual suspects are all here, a lot of the princesses looking a little worse for wear. A part of her thinks back to Perfuma and Mermista and the kindness they’d shown her in Salineas when she was in similar shape. It’s a little calming to have some flicker of hope in at least some of the folks deciding her fate. 

There is an odd presence here, though, that Catra is mostly just puzzled about. That sorceress, Castaspella, is sitting with Micah in the gallery. Maybe they want to hear from Mystacor? That explanation doesn’t help with the pit forming in Catra’s stomach.

Glimmer opens by greeting them all and thanking them for being present for her trial. She rolls off a list of Catra’s greatest hits – kidnapping her at Princess Prom, kidnapping Adora at the Crimson Waste, setting off the portal. 

Shit, Catra realizes, she could have probably made it farther in the war if she had just stopped trying to steal full grown people with magic powers. Foiled by her own hubris repeatedly. 

The Queen continues on about how the Commander has turned herself over willingly, they only need to hear from her, they’ll make whatever decision they want, blah blah. Honestly, Catra tunes out for awhile, which is why she nearly misses it when Glimmer says…

“Truth spell.”

Catra almost retches again. “You’re casting a _truth spell_ on me? We didn’t agree to that.”

“It’s a common tool in Bright Moon and Mystacor for interrogations. I believe it applies here, too.”

Perfuma isn’t happy about this. “Queen Glimmer, that feels like a condition that you could have warned Catra about in advance.”

“Must have slipped my mind,” she smiles at Catra. “There’s no reason why you’d object though, right? You have nothing to hide, yes?”

Catra wonders if she can work a few choice words about the Queen into her testimony. ‘Whoops, truth spell! I was forced to say that!’ 

She doesn't think she has anything to _hide_ , necessarily. Just, like probably everyone else, many things that would be better off not _known_ to anyone else ever. Adora’s dumb face looks hopeful. Like this will all be okay as long as Catra believes in herself or some absurd shit.

“I can only be asked about facts _directly_ relating to the trial,” Catra tells her. “I’m not letting you abuse this power.”

“Agreed,” Scorpia says, nodding sagely.

The other princesses all seem fine with this. Rather than responding verbally, Glimmer nods. Then she immediately begins drawing a rune. Castaspella appears at her side, assisting it appears. Catra knew she had a weird vibe.

She starts panicking seconds before they’re done. It’s a similar feeling to right before battle, right as she raises her claws to strike. That brief moment of immediate and deep regret and uncertainty when you’re able to switch off your confidence and blind devotion and realize how horrible the consequences could be right now. And much like those moments in the field, the next sensation she feels here in Bright Moon is a collision.

The spell passes through her, bringing with it another wave of sickness. Magic. As it seeps into her bones, into her fucking _spirit_ , she has to fight the flashes in her mind of Shadow Weaver. Of paralyzing electricity. Of scars from volts that still remain. Of all-consuming darkness.

“Catra appears to be experiencing a panic attack,” she can hear Entrapta saying. It sounds like she’s underwater. 

And then, the princess is right in front of her, walking Catra back towards her voice. Adora’s rubbing her back, whispering that she’s here. It takes a while for her to return to her body, but Catra’s able to finally push Entrapta and Adora away, waving the whole thing off as if it was no big deal.

She just breathes, trying to clear the thoughts. Glimmer interrupts after a while. Her face is shockingly sympathetic.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “I didn’t think about how that would feel. That’s...what it was like for me when she attacked here.” Catra nods in recognition. “Are you okay?”

Unbidden, the words drag themselves out of Catra’s body and into the throne room. “No. All magic reminds me of a lifetime of being hurt.” She then flinches and groans. 

That was a private thought, a long-held secret.

Adora’s beautiful face is frozen in grief, likely cycling through years of memories of being helpless while she witnessed Catra being punished.

Again, without her consent, Catra begins rambling. “I mean, not the princess magic, usually. You know, Frosta and Glimmer are stone-cold lunatics but I don’t think even they would intentionally hurt me. _Conjured_ magic is traumatic.” She pauses. “You should probably tie me to the chair cause I’m gonna bolt.”

At least Adora looks a bit relieved. Catra would probably never forgive Glimmer if her stupid truth spell made Adora think that her powers were a constant reminder of Shadow Weaver’s abuse.

Glimmer apparently feels the urge to clarify, “I’m not a lunatic!”

Catra can tell what’s coming this time and grits her teeth to try to lock it in. That fails spectacularly, only serving to make her seem even more threatening when she tells Glimmer, “You’re the angriest person I’ve ever met. And I’ve had to live with _myself_ for 21 years so that’s saying something. I’m not surprised that we've each come the closest to destroying the world.” 

The hurt that strikes Glimmer’s features is enough to make Catra wince. 

“Ugh. Look. You trying to fix your mistake after the Heart of Etheria taught me a lot.” That’s mortifying, having the Queen think she respects her in any way. “This spell is the worst!”

“Fascinating,” Entrapta whispers and Catra knows she’s going to get a lot of probing questions about this awful experience when this is done.

King Micah clears his throat, “I suggest we return to questioning that’s pertinent to the trial, Glimmer.” He turns to Catra. “As for your suggestion, I’d be able to create an unobtrusive force field. Would you be comfortable with that?”

“Yeah, I mostly trust you.” 

She sighs at the vulnerability of that but Micah looks surprised and touched. He begins drawing the rune and a small sphere of magic surrounds her on all sides. She was right – she trusts him and manages to not feel claustrophobic.

What that in place, Glimmer turns back to her.

“I’d like to open the floor for anything you have to say, Commander.”

That’s...confusing. Catra had prepared herself to answer questions. Not give a monologue about...Gods, she doesn't even know what these people could possibly want. Some declaration of penance? No, no more declarations. 

Giving up on racking her brain, Catra says in a small voice, “Glim, can you throw me a bone here? I don't know what you want to hear.”

The Queen sighs, somewhere between frustrated and pitying. “Literally anything you have to say for yourself. Why did you do the things you did? How do you feel about it? Do you regret it?” 

She throws her hands up in resignation. It occurs to Catra for the first time that Glimmer doesn't want to be here anymore than she does. She let Shadow Weaver maneuver her into this mess and now there’s basically no way out without looking weak or backing down.

They both carry heavy crowns. Glimmer has more support – training, advisors, loving parents, and the Alliance. But they're both just kids responsible for the lives of hundreds, trying to figure it all out.

 _Gods_ , is this fucking spell making her tell the truth _in her own head_?!

“Why?” she repeats. She knows what’s going to come out of her next and she’s already embarrassed. “I was falling apart. It could happen to anyone who lost everything important to them. The stakes were just much higher for me, second in command of a military force and all.” 

Catra sighs. That wasn’t too bad. She was worried she’d recite a soliloquy on Adora’s dumb blonde hair or something.

She takes another deep breath, feeling more words bubbling up. 

“I can’t say I regret what I did during the war.” The princesses all shift uncomfortably. “Every single one of us has blood on our hands. I’m ready to start owning up to mine at least. I didn’t get to this destructive place on my own. I had lots and lots of help there.”

Glimmer, in particular, bows her head at that.

“So, regret is not quite it. There’s a...different word, I don’t know it. Something deeper that accepts what I did and struggles with it and sees the impact of it and has to live with that everyday. I don’t regret what happened, I regret what I _became_. I got...really lost. I turned into the monsters who made me.” She nearly chokes on a sob at hearing herself admit that out loud. 

“Entrapta’s right, you know, about cycles. How many more of me did I create in the war? Rudderless kids with vengeance in their hearts and nothing to lose now, thanks to me. Imprisonment is too simple. It’s easy and clean and lets you all feel good about yourselves but it doesn’t actually _change_ anything. I should have to go back out and fix this. Rebuild some shit, give people a place to go. So they don’t have to turn out like me.” 

It’s getting a bit hard to see through the tears so she pauses to wipe her eyes. The princesses and the gallery are all watery, blubbering messes, including Mermista who manages to still maintain a scowl. 

Trying to save face, Catra adds, “Or whatever.”

“Catra,” Perfuma whispers, “Thank you for being brave for us and sharing that.”

“Didn’t really have a choice,” she and Glimmer _both_ mutter. They catch each other’s eyes and immediately look away.

“I do think sharing that sentiment with more of Etheria could be a helpful path to gaining the public’s trust,” Spinnerella suggests.

“Yeah, no,” Catra replies. “I don’t think I have it in me to do that more than once.”

“Don’t worry!” Entrapta chirps. “Emily recorded it.”

Catra hits the forcefield. She had completely forgotten it was there. She was out of her chair in an instant to destroy the bot but only managed to smack face first into the magic shield. Emily probably fucking got that on tape too.

Netossa stops laughing just long enough to ask, “Why is Emily filming this?”

“Emily’s always recording,” Entrapta says, like everyone should see how obvious that is. 

People have some questions about that. Mainly, ‘what the fuck’, ‘why’, ‘why didn’t you tell us this’, and ‘she came into the baths with me’, which is obviously not a _direct_ question but more a question about Sea Hawk’s life choices.

Glimmer shushes them. “We can worry about destroying Emily and all of her recordings later. I have some follow-up questions. Catra, are you actually planning on staying with Adora?” 

“I've been with Adora my entire life. We were mates before we were even old enough to know what that means. _No one's_ going to change that.” She looks pointedly at Glimmer. “I'll try not to end the universe next time she needs to go on her own adventures, though. Happy?”

Frosta pipes in to ask, “Do you have any secret evil plans?”

“I've had a lot of time to think up ways to prank Glimmer.”

Glimmer opens her mouth to abuse her magic powers and ruin Catra’s fun but Spinnerella intervenes first. 

“Let’s remember to stick to questions _only_ about the trial.”

The Queen shuts up and scowls. “Fine. Are you done fighting, Catra? Even if we were to send you back to the Fright Zone as Commander, should we expect a war on our hands?”

“You came in with a battalion and I did nothing. You’ve slept in the same bed as me and I didn’t touch you. I don’t need to fight you. It’s not worth it – I don’t cycle through soldiers like Hordak used to.” Catra glances over at Adora, who still looks beautful and flawless, even with dried tears on her face. “Besides, I got everything I wanted anyway.” 

Adora beams, because of course she does.

There’s silence for a long minute before Glimmer asks the princesses, “Is everyone else satisfied?” They all nod their assent. “Then we shall move to deliberate. Everyone else is excused.”

To Catra’s surprise, it’s Micah that escorts her from the room. After releasing the force field, he takes her to get breakfast, idly talking about not much at all. He’s nervous, she realizes, and trying to calm himself by calming her.

“What’s your deal?” is...probably not how she should have phrased the question but fuck it.

He sighs, ignoring the rest of the Rebellion as they join them. 

“I suppose I’ve just been thinking. About choices. I did choose to allow Shadow Weaver to use my powers. I played a role in how you got here, however small. I got a second chance at life because you chose to send Entrapta to Beast Island. Our fates have been unintentionally intertwined. I hope you get a second chance as well, Catra.”

“Me, too,” she manages to reply, voice rough.

“I told the Sorcerer's Guild your thoughts on Shadow Weaver. They’ve decided to look into options for... rehabilitation, I suppose is their way of thinking about it.”

Catra almost laughs at the absurdity of the idea. But she’s not sure which is more unbelievable – Shadow Weaver changing or a bunch of magic idiots listening to her.

“I can’t promise anything, of course,” Micah adds quickly. “But they’ve decided to be more expansive about the possibilities for her. So thank you.”

Catra just nods, lost in what that could mean. He was right that she’ll never get answers. Never get an apology or even acknowledgement of what happened to her, not from the person responsible at least. But it’s a small comfort to know that Micah and others believe her and are listening to her.

Micah places a gentle hand on her shoulder and smiles. 

“If you think it’s helpful, I could one day teach you a little magic. Maybe help you become more comfortable being around it? I did mean it when I told you that you were very powerful, you know.”

“You know what? Why the hell not?” Could be useful if she needs to break out of her prison cell.

Arms wrap tightly around her waist from behind. 

“Hey, King Micah.” A kiss is placed behind her ear.

“Adora, how are you holding up?” he replies.

Catra feels her shoulder shrug. Micah nods with a kind smile and excuses himself, as Adora turns her mate around to face her. Before Catra can open her mouth to speak, the blonde’s lips are on hers. It’s a deep, loving kiss that soon turns into something that there shouldn’t be an audience for. So Catra pulls away gently.

“I did that good?” she rasps out.

“So good, kitten. I know this isn’t about me – this is your own journey – but I’m so proud of you.”

“Well, I don’t deserve much credit. It was mostly the truth spell.”

Across the room, she hears Castaspella laugh quietly at nothing. A perk of having outstanding peripheral vision is that she can easily see Micah, out of the corner of her eye, shush his sister.

Catra’s over the table and in the lady’s space before Adora can even react to stop her. The sorceress looks completely caught off guard.

“Hi,” she squeaks. 

“What’s the joke?” Catra asks. Her eyes are narrowed and, while her tone is outwardly calm, Castaspella seems smart enough to understand that that won’t last for long.

“Joke? Oh, nothing. Just thinking of something fu-”

“Did you play me?” Catra interrupts.

Castaspella looks to Micah for help.

He gulps, raising his hands in a placating manner. “Catra, it was important for your testimony that you say things that you believed. Not just what you wanted us to hear.”

“But it would have been disingenuous if you were also doing that under force,” Castaspella adds.

“What the hell did you cast then? I definitely felt _real_ magic.”

“Well, I was going for a bit of anti-anxiety support, but that failed obviously,” the sorceress says, rolling her eyes. “I don’t blame you. Even the _thought_ of Shadow Weaver makes my skin crawl.”

“So all that shit I said…”

“Oh, you just really like us and trust us all,” Adora says behind her. 

Catra turns and realizes that the whole room has heard their conversation. Bow is making heart eyes. Adora looks entirely too smug. 

Then she voices exactly what Catra’s thinking, “That’s so embarrassing for you.”

Glimmer chooses that moment to teleport into the room, landing directly next to Catra. She glances around at the silent group in confusion before realization colors her features.

“Oh, did you tell her about the spell?” she begins cackling before she even finishes her sentence. “Come on. We’re ready for you all.”

In an instant, Glimmer’s hands are on Catra’s shoulder and then she’s in the throne room. There’s no Adora yet so Catra just faceplants on the floor, dry heaving. Glimmer teleports herself to the throne, deeply unconcerned.

The others trickle in while Catra tries to pull herself together. Scorpia, Perfuma, and Entrapta are all giving her their version of silent encouragement. Which is not silent for two of them, since Scorpia is whisper-shouting “I love you, Wildcat!” and Entrapta is just squealing while Emily fidgets below her.

Glimmer clears her throat and puts on her most regal voice. “Thank you again for joining us. We have come to a decision.”

Catra looks to Adora, who doesn’t seem to know what to do about her limbs so she just kinda flails some reassurance. This is the dummy Catra married. Accidentally.

She looks back to Glimmer and holds her breath.

“The Alliance has unanimously decided that Catra is guilty of the crimes before her.” 

Catra lets out that breath. Fine. We knew this would probably happen. Catra briefly wonders if a hole could open in the floor and suck her into it. But giant holes in the universe are mostly what got her into this trouble in the first place.

The Queen continues, “The last several months have been hard. We’ve heard from a lot of the Etherians who were impacted by Catra’s choices. What everyone called for was accountability – the way to rebuild Etheria won’t be through punishment. It can only happen through being accountable.

The Alliance’s decision – if _Catra_ agrees, which Perfuma and Entrapta insisted we add – is that Catra will be removed as Commander of the Horde.”

Fuck. She’ll never get to wear Lonnie’s cape. 

Honestly, she’d expected to be sadder about losing her post but Catra instead begins to think of things she can do with Lonnie, Rogelio, and Kyle outside of the Fright Zone for the first time. Maybe they could travel? They could visit her in her cell, at the very least.

“The Horde will be officially disbanded and the Fright Zone removed, a plan that the acting Commander had little issue with. All land previously belonging to the Scorpion Kingdom is to be returned to Scorpia. She and Perfuma will receive the Alliance’s support and resources to launch their plan to rehabilitate all former Horde soldiers.”

Scorpia looks so proud. It’s some comfort to know that her people will be in good hands. Or pincers, rather.

“All former Horde villages will be allowed to choose which kingdom they swear fealty to.” 

Mermista quietly complains, “If I end up with some weird villages out in the Crimson Waste, I will fucking _riot_.”

“Lastly, _Catra_ will pay restitution to Etheria by rebuilding the kingdom of Halfmoon to house people displaced by the war. You will govern the citizens impacted by your choices, with She-Ra at your side. The Alliance will support your efforts: Entrapta has volunteered to oversee most of the planning and building stages, Perfuma and Scorpia will work with you to create a similar rehabilitation plan as the Fright Zone to assist your settlers’ transition, and Frosta has offered to mentor you both on running a kingdom. I will personally visit one day for the first six months to ensure that everything is...above board.”

Catra looks to Adora to make sure this is reality and not a stress-induced hallucination. The blonde just stares at her, mouth agape.

Holy shit. Adora did it. _Catra_ and Adora did it.

Glimmer then clears her throat awkwardly. When she opens her mouth next, for the first time, she sounds a lot younger. “I-I know what it’s like to get lost in the war. To do things that are not within our values.”

She takes a slow shaky breath, while Catra braces herself for the worst.

“I’m sorry. To everyone. For the Heart of Etheria.”

They all murmur, surprised by this turn of events. Catra tilts her head. Is Glimmer upstaging her at her own trial by trying to be the bigger person?

“I didn’t listen to anyone except Light Hope and Shadow Weaver. I could have endangered us all. I nearly _killed_ half the princesses and myself.” She pauses to sigh before looking around the room at the sad faces of the people she loves. “I know that everyone has lost trust in me. I’ve lost trust in myself half the time. I keep losing sight of peace and justice and letting grief and anger get in the way.”

Glimmer locks eyes with Catra for a long moment.

“Halfmoon will not be the only kingdom under watch for those six months. As a show of trust, Catra and Adora will also serve as monitors to Bright Moon. You’ll help make sure that I remain on my path.”

Catra looks to Adora who just nods, like they have any other choice than babysitting Glimmer.

The Queen continues, “You’ll have to sign a treaty with the Alliance and operate under the same rules that we all adhere to. Otherwise, you have free reign to come and go from Bright Moon as you please now.”

Perfuma clears her throat pointedly.

Glimmer groans. “If you want to be with Adora, you’re welcome to stay here until Halfmoon is ready.” She gets a wicked glint in her eye. “ _Princess_ Catra.”

“Lord King Catra,” the former Commander corrects quickly.

“Absolutely not!” the Queen denies.

“Yes!” Catra’s now drunk on her own freedom. “Queen Adora and Lord King Catra.”

Glimmer teleports down from her throne to get in Catra’s face. “You can’t be a Lord _and_ a Ki-”

“Long live Queen Adora and Lord King Catra of Halfmoon,” Scorpia cheers and everyone follows.

To be an absolute shit, Catra reaches out and pulls Glimmer into a hug. “I didn’t realize you were so obsessed with me that you wanted to keep me around, Sparkles.”

“You’re going to make me regret being a benevolent leader, aren’t you?”

“Oh, for sure. Your unconditional love and forgiveness has made me truly comfortable enough to be myself around here finally. You’re going to hate it.”

“Shut it or I’ll teleport us into and out of every single room in this castle. _Hundreds_ of jumps.”

Catra would like to call her bluff but she sees Adora over Glimmer’s shoulder. Catra moves to disentangle herself from the hug but Adora throws her arms around them both. Then Bow joins in and Sea Hawk and Scorpia and soon the half Alliance is hugging and wrestling on the floor, minus the ones who have any dignity.

Catra’s stuck with these cloying assholes forever now.

Entrapta’s voice breaks through all the congratulations and excitement. “I will allow celebrating for exactly 7 minutes and then I believe we should discuss viable waste and septic options for Halfmoon.”

“Yes,” Catra replies, voice strained from all the weight of other bodies on top of her. “I’d rather talk about literal shit than do this.”

“You love us, dummy,” Adora tells her.

“Alright, everyone off or I’m clawing my way out of here.” But she marks along Adora’s cheek and there’s no way that everyone can’t hear her purring like a buzzsaw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, it's super mushy. i kept trying to make it less mushy and it just got softer and softer and i don't know the heart wants what the heart wants or something.
> 
> okay, this is the last actual chapter of substance. the next one is the epilogue. some people tie up loose ends in their epilogues and you would be a fool to expect that here. the next shit's all useless fluff.


	12. Cub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 10 years later, Halfmoon is growing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is early. my notes on this chapter just say "oooh do i get to do my dumb she-ra jizz joke"
> 
> Adertily and DaniJayNel [posted a lovely, less ridiculous version of this same idea](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29138799) a couple weeks ago and i highly highly suggest reading it.

Queen Adora and Lord King Catra gathered all of their closest friends and family, and a bunch of people that Catra  _ hates _ but Adora made them invite, in the kingdom of Halfmoon for a celebration of their 10-year wedding anniversary. Their  _ actual _ wedding, the formal ceremony they had a couple years after they reunited, not that embarrassing mating bite situation.

Catra knows, though, that Adora’s going to tell the bite story over and over to anyone who will listen, hopefully remembering to leave out the part where they fucked. Or not, cause it’s pretty cute when she gets all flustered after accidentally telling strangers about their sex life.

The castle has been decorated and Catra gave very specific food and booze instructions to the staff. Games have been set up. Music and a dance floor readied. The guards have been notified to keep an eye on Sea Hawk at all times.

They don’t throw a lot of big parties at Halfmoon. Well, not a lot of  _ formal _ parties. Catra and Adora prefer sparring tournaments or other sporting competitions that end in a big blow-out bash. Usually out in the town square with everyone in whatever they feel comfortable wearing. But for their anniversary, Adora was insistent on a formal dress-up event in the “ballroom”, which Catra had built under great duress in their otherwise sensible castle with no intention of it ever being used.

The Lord King was forced to have a new suit created, a deep red wine color with charcoal accents to match the color of her shirt. She picked out the Queen’s matching red dress just so she could make sure that it was sleeveless, backless, low-cut, and almost scandalously short. If she has her way, Catra doesn’t think they’ll be at this party for long. She’d settle for finding a dark, quiet corner to get some private time with Adora. Fuck, maybe  _ she _ should have chosen to wear a dress too to make things easier. What a tactical oversight.

The first big problem arrives when Catra can’t seem to fight off the nausea and vertigo that she’s been experiencing lately. Everyone that’s staying overnight has already arrived and been shown to their room. Catra was able to drag herself out of bed to greet everyone but made excuses to return to her quarters quickly. Perfuma was the only person who seemed to catch on and she’s been hanging out there all day, trying different herbs on Catra and experimenting with various diagnoses.

The second big problem presents itself when Catra gets up the energy to try on her suit a couple hours before the party and realizes that it doesn’t really seem to fit anymore.

“What the fuck is happening here?” she asks, deeply frustrated. 

Her body doesn’t quite feel like her own and she can’t get a handle on this. Pants unwilling to button, shirt bunching up awkwardly. There’s no time to get the tailor to fix this. She’s got a few tunics that she wears for state business so maybe that will just have to do.

Perfuma peeks into the closet. “Hmmm. That’s interesting.”

“What?!” Catra snaps and then immediately regrets it cause the princess has been a fucking angel today. “Sorry. My feelings are fucking everywhere lately.”

Perfuma just smiles. “It’s fine. Let’s get you in some comfy clothes and let you relax for a moment.”

They do just that, and Perfuma gets a warm wet towel to place on Catra’s brow, which is very lovely. When she sits gently on the bed next to her and takes a deep breath, the Lord King senses that Perfuma’s figured out the problem.

“Catra,” the princess begins gently, “I know this might sound strange – I’m not sure if you and Adora have been trying for this – but could you be pregnant?”

She sits up quickly. “Pregnant?! That’s ridiculous.”

“Okay, so you haven’t been trying, I guess. Your symptoms – mood swings, bloating, nausea, fatigue – all line up. I happen to dabble as a doula and the signs are quite familiar.”

Catra shakes her head adamantly. “I can’t be pregnant. We had science classes in the Horde. I know how babies are made. So unless this some Etherian magic bullshi– “

They’re interrupted by a sound in the ventilation system overhead. There’s another small bang. A whispered squeal. And then Entrapta falls out of the vent grate and onto the floor a few feet away from them.

“Entrapta! What is the first rule here?”

“But I have information!” she whines.

“Which you wouldn’t have known to share unless you were violating the first rule,” Catra points out. She doesn’t want to blow up on the girl but she can’t even deal with  _ this _ while trying to stop freaking out over Perfuma’s absurd suggestion.

“True,” Entrapta admits. “I’ll be more mindful of your rules on privacy. You’re...not going to like what I have to say next, though.”

Perfuma gestures for her to continue.

“I do think Perfuma’s hypothesis is  _ sound _ , based on mating practices that I’ve overhead Catra and Adora use here in the castle, in Bright Moon, when traveling on the ship between kingdoms, etc.” Catra wants to groan. Yeah, we get it, they fuck a lot. Jeez. “Namely Catra’s request for Adora to ‘ _ breed _ ’ her, which I researched and-”

Catra begins screaming. She doesn’t think she’s saying words but she’s definitely making a lot of loud, piercing sounds that have Perfuma and Entrapta shutting up immediately and covering their ears.

“That doesn’t mean  _ anything _ ! And stay away from my room – how many times have I asked you for that?” More sounds. She doesn’t know when she got out of bed, but she’s pacing now.

Breeding, Gods. She can’t be pregnant, regardless of what Adora can think up to do with the Sword of Protection.

And yet. She  _ has _ been nesting a lot more lately. If she didn’t trust Perfuma, she would have clawed her face before letting her near the bed. Catra’s usually not even that territorial. Adora’s been weird too, growling at guards for coming anywhere near their room. And she’s been so sick. Her belly doesn’t agree with her at all, even though she’s always had a stomach of steel. But her last heat wa-

Suddenly, she’s screaming again. There’s some hissing thrown in for good measure as she storms out of her room. Catra picks up Adora’s scent in the hall and follows it to the ballroom, where the blonde is with Princess Scorpia, Queen Glimmer, King Bow, and Archduke Lonnie of Halfmoon. Everyone puts on their ‘oh shit’ faces before she’s even all the way inside the room, Perfuma and Entrapta trying to trail closely.

“You absolute asshole,” she’s screaming, marching up to Adora. Her claws are extended, feelings too on edge to put them away, poking Adora firmly in the chest.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” the blonde asks, trying to pull Catra into her arms.

The Lord King wrenches out of Adora’s grip and begins hitting her in the chest and arms. She’s proud of herself for not being  _ too _ violent in the face of all this madness.

Most of her words refuse to come out in a string that makes any sense though. 

“ _ You _ ! Stupid She-Ra jizz. Stupid magic. Stupid new more ‘ _ realistic _ ’ upgrade.”

Adora’s blocking blows but takes her eyes off of Catra to glance at their friends around them, turning bright red at all the new and exciting knowledge they now have about what happens in Adora and Catra’s bedroom. And several other rooms, including in some of their own kingdoms.

Looking away from Catra is a mistake, of course, because she’s able to land a solid blow in Adora’s chest that knocks the wind out of the Queen.

Through a wheeze, Adora begs, “Babe, should we talk about this in private?”

“You put a  _ baby _ in me, you  _ asshole _ !” 

Adora freezes when recognition hits her, eyes and mouth wide.

A couple months prior, Catra was feeling weird and hot and  _ super _ horny. It wasn’t as bad as a typical heat so she thought little of it at the time. A particular…request…had gotten stuck in her head and she blurted it out while  _ She-Ra _ was helping her  _ feel better _ . Repeatedly actually, once they both realized how much the command was working for them both.

Catra’s request had been met by a hazy golden glow and Adora willing something to come out of the sword for the first time. It tasted like Adora, even if the texture was a bit different than what Catra was used to. Adora was so proud. And hot.  _ Gods _ , it was really fucking hot and it kept whatever had been bothering the Lord King at bay for a short while. So Catra kept asking and Adora kept giving and suddenly Glimmer and Lonnie were breaking their door down cause they’d been missing for 2 days.

Refusing to take any personal responsibility for her part, though, Catra just hits Adora again.

The Queen doesn’t even attempt to avoid the strike, mind churning to catch up. Then she drops her arms dumbly to her sides, examining Catra with her eyes from head to toe, and smiles brightly.

“Oh, kitten.” 

Tears spring to her eyes. Catra watches her shift from nervous confusion to total confidence and contentment. She wishes she felt anywhere nearly as calm.

Catra allows Adora to wrap her up in her arms. It’s a tight hold at first, before the Queen quickly mumbles an apology at her mate’s belly and cuddles her a bit more gingerly. She kisses Catra’s lips so tenderly that the Lord King actually blushes when she remembers their friends are watching.

That blush only grows when Adora pulls back to whispers very quietly in her ear, “I put a baby in you?” She can’t help the shiver that goes through her when she hears this.

Everyone lets them have their moment, though most of them look deeply confused.

“Catra?” Perfuma asks, with no subtlety.

“Fine,” she replies, only pretending to be sullen. She doesn’t look away from Adora’s warm eyes. “I’m pregnant. We’re having a cub.”

Lonnie’s the first to break the stunned silence. “Holy.  _ Shit _ . Cat?”

“I call Godmother,” Glimmer yells.

“At best, you’re a kooky distant aunt,” Lonnie tells her.

Bow and Scorpia are both squealing versions of ‘Oh my gosh. This is so exciting!’ 

“Thank you,” Adora whispers to her with so much reverence. Like she’s giving her a gift or some shit. Well, she’s letting She-Ra’s spawn use her body for shelter for the next several weeks free of charge so that is something.

Adora pulls her back into the embrace. Catra lets herself relax into it. She’s got Adora. She’s got this group of idiots fighting over who gets to help raise this fucking thing. She’s a kingdom full of Halfmooners who fear/put up with her and will be more than happy to teach her and her mate how to raise the heir to the throne.

Ugh Gods, with her luck, it’ll be made of princess magic too.

“Fine,” she repeats. “We’re having a cub.”

“I know!” Adora laughs. This is probably the happiest she’s sounded in years. It makes Catra’s cold, dead heart feel full.

“You better wait on me, hand and foot.”

“I can’t even tell you how excited I am about that already. This is my #1 mission.”

“And no stupid princess names.”

Adora shrugs. “I’m fine just calling them ‘cub’ until they’re old enough to decide their own name.”

“Yeah, no dumb Plumerian hippie shit either.”

A laugh. “Whatever you want.”

“You’re pulling out if we ever do that again, just so you know.”

“Well, we’ll see how long you stick to that, kitten,” Adora says with a low chuckle.

Catra ignores the shiver down her spine to correct, “ _ Lord King _ .”

“Yes, Lord King Kitten.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alright, that's a wrap on this, folks! once again i am sending my **deepest deepest** appreciation to everyone who read or commented and gave encouragement. this was the first thing i'd finished writing in a long time and certainly the first thing i'd ever even considered posting. everyone's kindness and humor and feedback meant so much to me.
> 
> what's happening now? if you're into this shit, and you're open to something that's nothing like it, i'm updating [hunger hurts, starving works](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28858188/chapters/70789845) each friday (and hopefully tuesdays now too). it's just 30s-ish catra and adora behaving like bumbling teens and yearning for each other and never talking about it. i'm working on some other shit that might get finished one day. 
> 
> also, i do deeply want to write a sequel for wicked games set before the epilogue and have too many ideas - shoving glimmer and catra into space! a portal with a human catra! a portal with an older catra that definitely turns into the "parent trap" for some reason! adventures in halfmoon! who knows if i'll finish any of this? we'll see!
> 
> <3


End file.
